The UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) has presented an assessment of the situation with enforced disappearances in Mexico, covering the period from 2006 to 2026. The Committee highlights that 28,880 disappearances were reported in the National Register of Missing and Unfound Persons from January 1, 2023, to April 22, 2025. The report points to the presence of mass graves, systematic deprivation of liberty in the context of territorial disputes between cartels, and the alleged participation or acquiescence of public officials. The Committee also warns that the national cumulative total continues to rise. As of February 19, 2026, over 132,400 'missing and unfound persons' are registered, and there is no sign of a downward trend. Furthermore, the report documents a worsening of the forensic crisis. At the beginning of 2026, official figures estimate around 72,000 unidentified human remains (compared to 52,000 at the time of the Committee's visit in 2021). The Committee also identifies significant increases in certain regions and demographic groups. In Guanajuato, the number of missing persons has multiplied by eight since 2017 until April 2025, while in Tabasco, disappearances have shown an exponential increase in 2024 and 2025, with girls and young women being the primary victims. The Committee's analysis concludes that there are well-founded indications that enforced disappearances have been and continue to be perpetrated in Mexico as crimes against humanity. In contrast, the Mexican state has categorically rejected the CED's conclusion, denying that there is a practice of enforced disappearances in the country that constitutes a crime against humanity.
