Paris, Mexico, 2 April 2026. The Committee on Enforced Disappearances (hereinafter "Committee") decided to refer the situation in Mexico to the United Nations General Assembly, as set forth in Article 34 of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (hereinafter "Convention"). The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) welcomes this decision, in which the Committee concludes that there are well-founded indications that enforced disappearances as crimes against humanity are being committed in Mexico, in accordance with the provisions of Article 34 of the Convention.
FIDH, based on information gathered in Mexico, particularly in Coahuila, Nayarit and Veracruz, over more than a decade of documentation in collaboration with its member organisations, IDHEAS and the Comisión Mexicana de Defensa y Promoción de los Derechos Humanos (CMDPDH), and victims’ collectives, argued that organised crime groups practice enforced disappearances in a widespread and systematic manner in the country, often with the authorisation, support or acquiescence of local public officials, and frequently in contexts of corruption.
FIDH’s position
FIDH had formally requested the implementation of the Article 34 procedure to recognise the gravity, widespread and systematic nature of enforced disappearances in Mexico, to bring about a change in the way they are investigated, and to facilitate international dialogue on organized crime’s human impacts.
Worryingly, Mexican authorities’ current method of investigating enforced disappearances does not allow for addressing the systematic nature of these crimes. In practice, enforced disappearances are investigated in isolation on a case-by-case basis, using a methodology that does not allow authorities to identify broader patterns, connections between cases and the chains of command behind these crimes. This severely limits the ability to properly identify those most responsible and to achieve justice in the short-term for the victims of tens of thousands of enforced disappearances. In fact, according to experts, under current conditions, it would take 120 years to identify all the bodies of the disappeared. The magnitude and systematicity of enforced disappearances in Mexico, combined with the high impunity rate of almost 98% as recognized by the CED, underscore the need for a paradigm shift in the investigation strategy.
Recognising systematicity requires the use of new instruments to investigate disappearances, such as international criminal law. Rather than treating each disappearance as an isolated incident, the justice system should aggregate and analyse information from similar cases, jointly address disappearances that present common patterns, and conduct a chain of command analysis to investigate and prosecute networks and structures, not just the direct perpetrators. Likewise, the level of collusion between local actors, law enforcement or government with organised crime groups who are leading this practice of forced disappearances requires more in-depth investigation into the role that corruption plays in the commission and proliferation of this crime against humanity. In other words, part of this paradigm shift also requires investigating the methods of corruption and capture of public power that organised crime groups use in different contexts to commit these crimes with impunity.
In its formal request, FIDH did not allege that the Mexican State has adopted, at the highest level, a state policy of enforced disappearances, but it did allege that there are serious situations of collusion between public servants, security forces and organised crime groups that commit enforced disappearances in an organised and systematic manner. Mexico is not the only country affected by the violence of organised crime groups; many countries experience killings, human trafficking, and forced recruitment committed by these groups. As such, FIDH considers that bringing this issue to the United Nations General Assembly is a fundamental step to address, at a global level, the widespread and systematic nature of crimes committed by organised crime groups and these groups’ capture of public structures, especially in Mexico.
For these reasons, FIDH welcomes this decision of the Committee and hopes that the Mexican government’s initial rejection of the decision will evolve into a dialogue with victims’ groups and civil society to identify what more can be done to punish those most responsible for these disappearances.
Content of the decision
In its decision published today under article 34 of the Convention, the Committee concluded that the information it has received appears to contain well‑founded indications that enforced disappearances in Mexico have been and continue to be committed as crimes against humanity.
The procedure is preventive in nature and aims to mobilise international attention and support, rather than to establish individual criminal responsibility. The Committee stressed that it did not find evidence of a federal‑level policy to commit enforced disappearances—whether through deliberate action or deliberate omission—within the meaning of the Rome Statute. The Committee also underscored that neither the Convention nor the Rome Statute requires such attacks to occur throughout a country’s entire territory, or to originate from the highest levels of government to qualify as crimes against humanity.
Based on all information available, the Committee therefore took the exceptional step, under article 34, of bringing the situation in Mexico to the attention of the General Assembly, requesting it to consider action to provide the technical cooperation, financial support and specialist assistance that the country requires in the areas of search operations, forensic analysis and thorough investigation of allegations of enforced disappearances and links between public officials and organised crime. It also called for an effective mechanism to uncover the truth and to provide assistance and protection to families, organisations and defenders searching for the disappeared.
Procedure
On 4 April 2025, in response to the findings of its 2022 visit report to Mexico, the receipt of numerous requests for urgent action and individual complaints, the demand from numerous Mexican victims’ collectives and organisations, and FIDH’s formal request of February 2025, the Committee decided to activate the Article 34 procedure. Then, in July 2025, the Committee asked the Mexican state for additional information on the situation. Finally, based on the information received, on 2 April 2026, the Committee decided to urgently bring the issue before the General Assembly. It will soon be announced when this important discussion will be scheduled.