In Mexico, 82,328 minors have been reported missing: Redim

Carolina Gomez Mena

Newspaper La Jornada
Saturday April 30, 2022, p. 13

Missing children and adolescents not only their families are missing, all of Mexico is missing, they are a hole in the heart of the country; a painful absencesaid Tania Ramírez, executive director of the Network for Children’s Rights in Mexico (Redim).

When presenting the podcast 1, 2, 3 for me and for youan initiative of the National Search Commission (CNB) and Redim, financed by the European Union, which informs and educates about the disappearance of children, highlighted that fortunately 80 percent of the infants reported missing are located alive, but he said that those who are found must be treated for the consequences left by the absence and take the necessary measures so that they do not become victims of that crime again.

On the eve of the Day of the Boy and the Girl, he explained that, based on the National Registry of Disappeared Persons, 82 thousand 328 children and adolescents have been reported as missing; of this number, 16 thousand 378 are missing as of April 11; he added that around one in 100 are found dead, and that is extremely worrying, it is part of the national tragedy; that a child can disappear and die, we can no longer tolerate it, and that 20 percent we continue without finding him, without knowing where he is.

Sonja Perkic-Krempl, general director of search actions at CNB Mexico, stated: We have been preparing the national search protocol for children and adolescents that was published last year, and that has to be applied together with the approved search protocol, which is the guiding axis for searching for disappeared persons in Mexico, and that establishes what authorities have to do, what, when and how, to find the whereabouts of the disappeared.

He explained that they started with a study to learn about the contexts of the disappearances of children and adolescents in Mexico, in order to then design successful, specific and differentiated search actionsbecause it is very different to look for a young child than for a teenagerfor example.

The puppet Chuchi Cacomixtle, who is part of the campaign, has already released capsules on YouTube about what to do in the event of a child or adolescent disappearance. The most important thing is to act fast and the authorities should be required to start the search immediately. It all starts with an interview with the family, that’s the start of the search.