The length of time a person is forcibly disappeared is irrelevant when considering the criminality of the act, UN rights experts concluded [press release] Monday. The UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) [official website] examined the case of Argentinian prisoner Roberto Yrusta, who had been disappeared for seven days and nights after a prison transfer, before being found dead in a cell not long after his location was revealed. The UN experts urged Argentina to consider the families of disappeared person victims as well: “The Committee considers that the [sisters’] anguish and suffering over the lack of information about what happened to their brother was aggravated by the failure of the authorities to recognise their status as victims, a factor which led to their being re-victimised.” The CED chairperson expressed hope that the “jurisprudence arising from this case clarifies what constitutes enforced disappearance, so contributing to the protection of all from this abominable crime.”

Lack of government efforts to search for disappeared persons continues to be a worldwide issue, including notable recent events in Mexico [JURIST report]. Last September the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances [official website] urged [press release] countries to increase efforts to search for disappeared persons. The previous February the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances published a report [report, PDF, Spanish] detailing concluding observations on the large number of recent disappearances in Mexico. The report indicated that authorities are often involved in enforcing the disappearances of its citizens. Last year Amnesty International (AI) [advocacy website] criticized [JURIST report] the government of Mexico for their “failed” investigation of the army in the “enforced disappearance” of 43 students on September 26, 2014, claiming that it was incomplete and insufficient, after DNA collected from a mass grave of burned bodies proved inconclusive at this time. AI also called out the Mexican government in 2013 when it said [JURIST report] that the government must investigate the disappearances of thousands of people and acknowledge the government’s involvement in the disappearances. AI’s report said 26,121 people were reported disappeared or missing between December 2006 and December 2012, but 40 percent of the cases were not investigated.