The National Search Commission (CNB) is a Mexican commission which was established in 2018[1] for the purpose of finding the more than 100,000 missing people in Mexico, who have been victims of extrajudicial killings, torture and enforced disappearances.[2] Often, the victim's body is burned in an attempt to ("enforce disappearance") destroy all evidence.[1][3]
The commission was established in 2018 and the commissioner at the helm was Karla Quintana from February 2019 until her resignation in August 2023.[4] The commission has a budget of $22 million and a staff of 89 as of December 2020.[2]
Over 1000 clandestine mass graves have been found in Mexico and families are often tasked with having to investigate missing persons without much help from the Mexican Police.[5][6] The National Search Commission has worked with forensic teams and in 2022, were searching through thousands of human remains in Nuevo Laredo, at a place authorities call a cartel 'extermination' site.[1]
According to the Human Rights Watch, Mexico has had a history of extrajudicial killings, torture, and "enforced disappearances",[7][8] which began during the Mexican Dirty War when an estimated 1,200 people disappeared.[9] The disappearances were carried out by Mexico's government forces.[10]
This has continued throughout the Mexican drug war, with drug cartels and organized crime groups perpetrating the crimes, sometimes with help from the police. The War on drugs is a global campaign,[11] led by the U.S. federal government, of drug prohibition, military aid, and military intervention, with the aim of reducing the illegal drug trade in the United States.[12]
The commission's main responsibility is accounting for and finding Mexico's missing people. The number of missing people ranged from 79,000 in 2020,[2] to 92,000 in 2021.[13] On February 28, 2022, the Associated Press stated the official number was 98,356[1] and other sources estimated there were nearly 100,000 missing.[14] By May, 2022, the number was officially at more than 100,000.[3]
In April 2022, the Commission stated there are more than 20,000 missing women and that half of those women are from Nuevo León. a state in the Northeast region of Mexico.[15]
The functions of the National Search Commission include creating a record of the missing, and working with teams to find the missing.
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