A UN Committee of Experts on the Rights of the Child urged Mexico on Thursday to declare the fight against the murder of women and childrento investigate and punish these cases, even when they have been committed by law enforcement, as well as forced disappearances of minors.
“We ask that it be of the highest priority and that immediate and effective measures be taken to Prevent, investigate and punish the disappearance of childrenincluding enforced disappearances, and that there be an immediate search and the 72-hour waiting period be eliminated,” the UN body said.
The Committee on the Rights of the Child presented to the press today its conclusions from the review it made of the situation in several countries at its last session, held in Geneva between August 26 and 13.
In another passage of his conclusions on MexicoThe Committee addresses the threats that children of human rights and environmental defenders may face as a result of the latter’s activities and calls on the authorities to protect them from violence or possible arrest.
Furthermore, the Committee also expresses great concern about the “high prevalence” of sexual violenceespecially rape, which primarily affects indigenous girls, as well as sexual abuse in schools and by religious personnel of the Catholic Church.
It regrets the lack of adequate investigations and measures to hold those responsible accountable for such acts.
In particular, the Committee calls on the Mexican Government to lead a formal and independent investigation, with all powers, into the child sexual abuse in the context of the Catholic Church.
The aim is to identify the failures in state institutions that allowed these abuses, identify the victims and establish mechanisms for their compensation.
The Committee also calls for the indigenous children and disabled children that may have been victims of violence and different types of abuse, and it is recommended to create accessible, confidential, effective and child-friendly reporting channels.
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The report identifies as a “harmful practice” the continued occurrence of child marriages, especially in regular areas and indigenous communities, as well as a “high rate” of informal unions among adolescents.