The disappearance of persons in Mexico is today one of the main human rights challenges faced by both the State and society. The scale and widespread nature of the phenomenon have placed the country under the scrutiny of major international human rights organizations, which have issued various recommendations highlighting the severity of the problem.

Domestically, the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) has stated that Mexico faces a “structural problem in addressing the issue of disappearances” and has urged the government to recognize the competence of the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances to receive individual complaints (CNDH, 2019). Similarly, Alejandro Encinas, Undersecretary for Human Rights, Migration, and Population at the Interior Ministry, declared that “Mexico is a vast clandestine grave” and that the country is experiencing a major humanitarian crisis regarding disappearances (Encinas cited in Olivares & Urrutia, 2019).

In light of this situation, the Observatory on Disappearance and Impunity in Mexico seeks to contribute to understanding this phenomenon at the local level. In short, it focuses on analyzing its diversity across the Mexican territory to support the efforts of civil society organizations and families of the disappeared in their pursuit of truth and justice, as well as to inform state interventions and public policies aimed at combating disappearances.