America: States must guarantee women’s right to search for missing and forcibly disappeared persons without fear

• Most searches for missing persons are led by women (female searchers). They are at risk of attack and health and financial damage.
• The work of female searchers fills the gap left by states not looking for missing persons.
• Amnesty International calls on states to take diligent, gender-based and differentiated measures to the human rights violations faced by female seekers.

To commemorate International Day of the Missing, Amnesty International today launches the global “Searching Without Fear” campaign, which recognises the vital work of women searchers in the Americas and urges states to protect and safeguard their rights as they search for their loved ones.

Although disappearances can occur for a variety of reasons, it is the duty of states to determine the whereabouts of the disappeared. While they are missing, their absence has a profound impact on their families, loved ones and communities.

In America, rejecting government policies, standing up for rights, living in armed conflict zones or areas with organized crime, migrating without the documents required by transit and destination countries, and many other pretexts are used to justify the unforgivable: restricting one’s freedom and hiding one’s fate and whereabouts from their family and loved ones.

As part of this campaign, Amnesty International is publishing the report Searching without fear: International standards for the protection of women searchers in the Americas. This report recognizes that it is women who have been at the forefront of the search for the enforced disappeared. Iconic and historical examples from the region include the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo in Argentina and the Chilean women of Calama during military regimes and internal armed conflicts; the indigenous women who have been at the forefront of armed conflicts in countries such as Guatemala and Peru; and Central American women who have crossed borders and created transnational mechanisms to search for migrants who have been victims of enforced disappearance.

The paradigmatic cases of Colombia and Mexico

“The campaign we are launching today draws attention to the tireless efforts of women searchers in the Americas, with Colombia and Mexico as prime examples, two countries deeply marked by enforced disappearances of all kinds. The searchers themselves are victims of the enforced disappearance of their families or loved ones, and their work also makes them human rights defenders in their own right. They deserve to be recognized and protected as such,” said Ana Piquer, Americas Director at Amnesty International.

The searchers themselves are victims of the enforced disappearance of their family members or loved ones, and their work also makes them full-fledged human rights defenders. They deserve to be recognized and protected as such.

Ana Piquer, Americas Director at Amnesty International.

In Colombia, enforced disappearance is one of the many forms of violence that affect the country as a result of decades of armed conflict and socio-political violence. The Commission for Truth, Coexistence and Non-Repetition stated in its final report in 2022 that as many as 210,000 people were victims of this serious violation of human rights.

They are organizations created by relatives of the forcibly disappeared and by female searchers who have put pressure on the government to address this terrible reality. One of these organizations is Fundación Nydia Érika Bautista, which currently works directly on 519 cases of forced disappearances, offering legal, documentary, memorial and communication support services. It also offers a leadership school for female searchers and other activities.

Meanwhile, Mexico is facing a serious crisis of forced disappearances linked to the insecurity that has plagued the country for decades. According to the National Registry of Missing and Disappeared Persons, approximately 115,443 people have been registered as missing and disappeared in Mexico and have never been found from December 31, 1952, to August 21, 2024. There has also been a recent increase in violence against searchers, especially women. According to the organization Artículo 19, 16 searchers have been murdered in the last six years, 13 of them women. In addition, one female searcher has disappeared during the same period.

Mexico has more than 200 organizations of relatives of the forcibly disappeared, the vast majority of which are led by women. One such group in the state of Guanajuato, called Hasta Encontrarte (Until We Find You), focuses primarily on searching, either with state participation or through independent brigades. Through their efforts, they have found 23 unmarked graves and discovered the whereabouts of 203 forcibly disappeared people.

Female seekers at risk

Women seekers face a range of risks, threats and attacks that touch upon their own life stories, identities, aspirations and dreams, and socio-economic and cultural environments. They should not have to face these dangers, and the fact that they do is a stark illustration of the inadequacy of human rights protections.

Fundación Nydia Érika Bautista and Hasta Encontrarte are evidence of the leading role that women in the Americas have played in searching for their family members and loved ones. Their stories also embody resistance to violence against women, to women defending human rights, to victims of enforced disappearances, and to women searchers. Despite the risks, threats, and attacks they endure, these women continue to search and loudly demand an end to impunity.

“The experience of searching and the risks, threats and attacks that female searchers are exposed to is inextricably linked to the fact that they are women. This is not a coincidence, and it is driven by the roles that society assigns to women. Their protection must take this dynamic into account to be effective,” explains Ana Piquer.

The experience of searching and the risks, threats and attacks that female searchers are exposed to are inextricably linked to the fact that they are women. This is not a coincidence, but is driven by the roles that society assigns to women. Their protection must take this dynamic into account to be effective.

Ana Piquer, Americas Director at Amnesty International.

Amnesty International has been able to confirm that several rights of members of Fundación Nydia Érika Bautista and Hasta Encontrarte have been violated. The searches of these women have been marked by threats, attacks, stigmatization, discrimination and other human rights violations with consequences that continue to this day and are exacerbated by new violations, prolonging the cycle of violence.

For example, members of Hasta Encontrarte have been threatened and even attacked with firearms during ground searches. And towards the end of the 1990s, the leaders of Fundación Nydia Érika Bautista and their families were forced into exile amid attacks, serious threats and stigmatizing statements from the authorities. When they returned to Colombia, where they now live, they resumed their search, but the threats and attacks continue.

Amnesty International has also collected reports on the deteriorating physical and mental health of victims, the socio-economic consequences of the enforced disappearance of their relatives and loved ones and of their searches in the field, and the failure of states to recognise their work and protect them.

Another form of violence experienced by female seekers is the failure to investigate and punish the enforced disappearance of their loved one, as well as subsequent attacks and threats. Despite their continued efforts to expose these violations, justice has not been served.

End institutional inaction

“States must guarantee the right of women searchers to search without fear, and they must investigate the human rights violations they have suffered. Through their efforts, these women fill the void left by institutions that fail to act effectively and in a way that protects rights. It is the responsibility of states to search for the forcibly disappeared and guarantee the rights of women searchers. Their failure to do so is scandalous, but even more scandalous is the fact that those who do search for the missing and forcibly disappeared, especially women, have to risk their lives,” said Edith Olivares Ferreto, Executive Director of Amnesty International Mexico.

It is the responsibility of states to search for the forcibly disappeared and to guarantee the rights of women searchers. Their failure to do so is scandalous, but even more scandalous is the fact that those who do search for the missing and forcibly disappeared, especially women, have to risk their lives.

Edith Olivares Ferreto, Director of Amnesty International Mexico.

Amnesty International calls on states in the Americas to uphold their obligations under international human rights law, which are outlined in the report. These obligations include recognizing the right of women searchers to participate in state-led searches and to search independently, as well as their right to defend human rights without discrimination, with a gender-based and differentiated approach. States must also protect these women from the various risks, threats and human rights attacks to which they are exposed.

For more information or to schedule an interview, please contact (email address)