• Most searches for violently disappeared persons are led by women (searchers), who are exposed to risks, attacks and health and financial damage.
• The work of the searchers fills the gap created by the lack of government searches for people who have disappeared violently.
• Amnesty International calls on states to take careful, gender-sensitive and differentiated measures to the human rights violations faced by women seeking asylum.

To mark the International Day of the Disappeared, Amnesty International is today launching the international campaign “Search without Fear”. It recognises the important work of women searching for their loved ones and calls on states to protect and guarantee their rights when searching for their relatives.

Although there may be various reasons for people to disappear, it is the duty of a State to determine the whereabouts of the disappeared. As long as they remain missing, their absence has a profound impact on their families, loved ones and communities.

In America, opposition politics, advocacy for rights, living in zones of armed conflict or organized crime, migration without the documents required by transit and destination countries, and many other pretexts have been used to justify the inexcusable: restricting a person’s freedom and concealing their fate and whereabouts from their families and loved ones.

As part of this campaign, Amnesty International publishes the report Searching without fear: International standards for the protection of women seeking asylum in the Americas. This report recognises that it has been women in particular who have taken the lead in the search for forcibly disappeared people. Iconic and historical examples from the region include the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo in Argentina and the Chilean women of Calama during military regimes and internal armed conflicts; the indigenous women who took the lead in the midst of armed conflicts in countries such as Guatemala and Peru; and women from Central America who have crossed borders and created transnational mechanisms to search for migrants who have been victims of forcibly disappeared people.

The paradigmatic cases of Colombia and Mexico

“The campaign we are launching today draws attention to the tireless efforts of women searching for missing persons in the Americas, with the typical cases of Colombia and Mexico, two countries deeply scarred by enforced disappearances of all kinds. Women searching for missing persons are themselves 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,” said Ana Piquer, Amnesty International’s Americas Director.

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

Ana Piquer, Americas Director of Amnesty International.

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

They were organizations created by relatives of the disappeared and by women searching for the missing who are urging the government to face this terrible reality. One of these organizations is the Fundación Nydia Érika Bautista, which is currently working directly on 519 cases of disappeared persons, providing legal, documentary, memorial and communication support. It also offers a leadership school for women searching for the disappeared 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, between December 31, 1952 and August 21, 2024, approximately 115,443 people were registered as missing and disappeared in Mexico and were never found. Recently, violence against search teams, especially women, has also increased. According to the organization Artículo 19, 16 search teams have been murdered in the last six years, 13 of them women. In addition, a search team leader disappeared during the same period.

There are over 200 organizations of relatives of forcibly disappeared people in Mexico, the vast majority of which are led by women. One such group in the state of Guanajuato – Hasta Encontrarte (Until we find you) – focuses mainly on searches, either with government involvement or through independent brigades. Through their efforts, they have found 23 unmarked graves and discovered the whereabouts of 203 forcibly disappeared people.

Women in search of danger

Women seeking refuge face a range of risks, threats and attacks related to their own life story, identity, ambitions and dreams, and their socio-economic and cultural environment. They should not be exposed to these dangers, and the fact that they are clearly shows how inadequate human rights protection is.

Fundación Nydia Érika Bautista and Hasta Encontrarte are a testament to the leading role that women in the Americas have played in the search for their family 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 face, these women continue to search and demand loudly and clearly an end to impunity.

“The experience of being searched and the risks, threats and attacks to which female searchers are exposed is inextricably linked to the fact that they are women. This is not an accident, but is determined 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 being searched and the risks, threats and attacks faced by female searchers is inextricably linked to the fact that they are women. This is not an accident, but is determined by the roles society assigns to women. Their protection must take this dynamic into account to be effective.

Ana Piquer, Americas Director of Amnesty International.

Amnesty International has confirmed that several rights of members of the Fundación Nydia Érika Bautista and Hasta Encontrarte have been violated. The searches of these women were marked by threats, attacks, stigmatisation, discrimination and other human rights violations, the effects of which continue to this day and are exacerbated by new violations, perpetuating a vicious cycle of violence.

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

Amnesty International has also collected reports on how their physical and mental health has deteriorated, the socio-economic impact of the enforced disappearance of their families and loved ones, their searches on the ground, and how states fail to recognise their work and protect them.

Another form of violence experienced by women seeking refuge is the lack of investigation and punishment for the forced disappearance of their loved ones, as well as the attacks and threats that follow. Despite their tireless efforts to denounce these abuses, justice is not served.

End institutional inaction

“States must guarantee the right of women to search without fear and investigate the human rights violations suffered by these women. With their efforts, these women are filling the gap left by institutions that do not act efficiently and in a way that protects rights. It is the responsibility of states to search for forcibly disappeared people and to guarantee women’s rights. Their failure is egregious, but even more egregious is the fact that those who search for missing and forcibly disappeared people, 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 people who have been forcibly disappeared and to guarantee the rights of women who search for them. Their failure is glaring, but even more glaring is the fact that those who search for missing and forcibly disappeared people – especially women – have to risk their lives in the process.

Edith Olivares Ferreto, Executive Director of Amnesty International Mexico.

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

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