2023-07-05 18:15:00
Tijuana – “From a humanitarian point of view, it is imperative to increase the number of identifications of deceased persons in Mexico. In this sense, it is crucial to coordinate activities to help alleviate the suffering of thousands of families who are looking for their missing loved ones,” expressed the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) at the inauguration of the XIV National Meeting of Forensic Medical Services.
According to official figures, in Mexico there are more than 111,000 missing persons and close to 52,000 unidentified deceased persons, many of whom are wanted by their loved ones. In order to identify them, it is not enough to have a record, but it is necessary to have detailed information on each of them.
“Each unidentified deceased person carries with them a story, a legacy and a family that yearns for answers. Identifying them is a duty, an act of humanity and a right enshrined in the law regarding disappearances”, said Mitzi López Murrieta, head of the ICRC mission in northwestern Mexico.
The ICRC —a humanitarian organization that works to help people affected by armed violence— recognizes the national and local efforts aimed at having more infrastructure for the dignified protection and traceability of unidentified deceased persons. However, these measures will not be enough without a parallel increase in the number of identifications, so that deceased people who have not yet been identified can be returned to their families, warns Mitzi López.
To achieve this, it is crucial to standardize tools, criteria and methodologies, as well as effective forensic processes that include the participation of families. This will promote the obtaining of quality information for the identification of deceased persons.
In addition, it is essential to establish a permanent connection between academic institutions and those in charge of procuring justice in order to train forensic professionals who have the experience and technical skills that allow them to provide a comprehensive and sensitive response to families.
Mitzi López highlighted that forensic identification is a scientific and multidisciplinary process that requires highly trained and committed professionals. Specialists in this field must have multidisciplinary training, a comprehensive vision and knowledge both in caring for family members and in identification processes. “This historic moment calls for the reinvention of a unique forensic specialist: the forensic identification specialist,” Indian.
The ICRC also highlighted the importance of harmonizing local laws with the General Law on Disappearance of Persons (LGDP), including the legislation of Baja California. This harmonization is essential to identify the roles and responsibilities inherent to the mandate of each institution in its response to families.
Present at the opening of the meeting were the Undersecretary for Human Rights of the Ministry of the Interior, Alejandro Encinas; the head of the National Commission for the Search of Persons, Karla Quintana; the president of the Superior Court of Justice and the Council of the Judiciary of the state of Baja California, Alejandro Fragozo López, and the Secretary of Government of Baja California, Catalino Zavala Márquez.
Undersecretary Alejandro Encinas said that this type of meeting helps to confront “one of the most pressing problems we have across the country.” He explained that this challenge must be understood more and more as a national problem: “Although the responsibility of forensic doctors is a responsibility of local governments, the truth is that the magnitude of the forensic crisis that we are facing requires the sum of efforts and the coordination of different levels of government, from the municipality, the states and federal government.
assured that “counting more than 50,000 bodies in mass graves or in forensic services throughout the country —including that of the Attorney General of the Republic— requires action not only of institutional coordination, but also action by the entire Mexican State.”
For her part, Karla Quintana recalled that in 2019 she participated for the first time in the National Meeting —held then in Acapulco, Guerrero— and pointed out that “Four years after that meeting, without a doubt we have taken very important steps, not only in material resources, but in the political will of many institutions, of many states to join a single objective, which is what we all want here: to identify to people and return them home.
Quintana stressed the importance of “Put the search for missing persons at the center — the right to be searched for — and also the right to be identified, which has a double aspect (…): truth and justice.” Also he said, “As a form of reparation: obviously they are wanted alive, but we also know that there is a possibility that they are dead.”
The president of the Superior Court of Justice, Alejandro Fragozo López, stated that the meeting “It will make it possible to promote and strengthen the technical-forensic capacities of all those who collaborate in this noble service.”
The XIV National Meeting of Forensic Medical Services, convened by the Superior Court of Justice and the Council of the Judiciary of the State of Baja California, in collaboration with the Forensic Medical Services (Semefos) of the entity, the Institute of Expert Services and Forensic Sciences of Mexico City and the ICRC, brings together more than 120 experts in expert services and forensic medical services from various Mexican states, as well as representatives of specialized prosecutors, identification centers, search commissions, coordination of expert services, institutes of expert services and forensic sciences, the National Search Commission and local search commissions.
The forensic specialists will exchange experiences and analyze the necessary requirements to develop a multidisciplinary and inter-institutional approach in the search for missing persons, the identification of unidentified deceased persons, and sensitive and dignified care for their families.
The ICRC reaffirms its commitment to support efforts to provide answers to the families of the disappeared and to continue working to strengthen forensic work in the country, with the aim of treating the deceased with dignity, identifying them and handing them over to their families in the shortest possible time.
The ICRC, founded in 1863, is an independent, neutral and impartial international humanitarian organization that provides protection and assistance to victims of armed conflicts and other situations of violence.
It has 20,000 collaborators who work in one hundred countries. It is part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, the world’s oldest and largest humanitarian network, and works hand-in-hand with its national Red Cross partners to expand its work.
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press contact: Ana Langner, in charge of public communication, 52 5537176427.
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