State search commissions suffer lack of resources and plans, they denounce

Jessica Xantomila

La Jornada newspaper
Sunday, November 21, 2021, p. 19

The state commissions to search for persons face a series of obstacles to their full operation, among them the lack of resources and work plans and the job instability of their personnel, said the National Citizen Council (CNC) of the National Search System. In addition, it indicated that the resignation of its holders it has not been less, because between 2019 and May 2021, they added five, and in some cases they have been due to the little support they received from the local government.

The CNC also highlighted that despite the fact that states have the obligation to adopt the standards of the General Law on Forced Disappearance of Persons, Disappearance Committed by Individuals and the National Search System, through state laws, at present 12 entities do not have a rule regarding disappearance: Baja California, Campeche, Chihuahua, Durango, Guerrero, Michoacán, Morelos, Nuevo León, Quintana Roo, San Luis Potosí, Tamaulipas and Yucatán.

In a report, he stated that among the heads of local commissions who have resigned are the Tamaulipas commissioner, Jorge Ernesto Macías, who submitted his resignation in March 2020 arguing slowness in the work of the secretariats of Administration and Finance of the state government. Meanwhile, in May 2021 the head of the Michoacán body, Marco Antonio Hernández, resigned, although in this case there is a claim from the workers of said institution for a five-month salary debt.

Others who have resigned are the commissioners of Veracruz and Jalisco, in May 2019, as well as that of Mexico City, who resigned in October 2020.

The CNC highlighted that although currently all the states have established, at least legally, their respective state search commissions, their mere installation does not ensure their organizational capacity, that they have established procedures, as well as available resources. Without a sufficient budget, he stressed, these organizations are destined to failure and suggest a mere simulation of the implementation of the General Law on Forced Disappearance of Persons.

In the document, presented as part of the inputs for the delegation of the Committee against Forced Disappearance of the United Nations Organization -which is making an official visit to Mexico-, he stated that other deficiencies that have been found in the state commissions is that a great Most of them have temporary contracts or other forms of agreements that do not guarantee the job security of their staff, they work with a huge disparity in the financial resources available to them, and the relationship with other relevant actors such as specialized prosecutors is not well coordinated nor is it productive.