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STORY: OHCHR / MEXICO HC TURK VISIT
TRT: 03:20
SOURCE: OHCHR
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: SPANISH / ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 21 APRIL 2026, MEXICO CITY, MEXICO
1. Wide shot, Mexico City
2. Wide shot, HC Türk walking to meeting at Centro Cultural Español
3. Various shots, Türk meeting with Platforms of Buscadoras and human rights cases
6. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Javier Barajas Piña:
“My son, Francisco Javier Barajas Piña, was murdered on May 29, 2021, shot 22 times by people connected to a criminal group. My daughter was a teacher. My son was a lawyer. On February 29, 2020, my daughter disappeared. We started searching for her that day. In October 2020, we found her in a clandestine grave in the San Juan neighborhood, in the municipality of Salvatierra, the largest mass grave in the state of Guanajuato. Searching shouldn't cost our life. I sincerely appreciate you receiving families of victims.”
7. Wide shot, Türk exiting Centro Cultural Español, meeting families of the disappeared and journalists.
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Volker Türk, High Commissioner for UN Human Rights (OHCHR): “I've just met with victims of human rights abuses, people who got tortured, who were put into pretrial detention without any prospect of being released, with those who were arbitrarily detained because they fought for the rights of indigenous people, for people who fought for environmental issues. And I met those whose family members had been disappeared, went missing, and I can only feel the pain of all of them about not knowing what happened to their loved ones, not knowing whether others would be affected as well. I met this a couple who lost both of their children. First their daughter was disappeared and then when the son was looking for her, he got killed as well. And I have to say, there needs to be an all-out effort to address these issues in a fundamental way.”
9. Travelling shots, Arrival, Public Prosecutor’s Office
10. Various shots, Türk arriving with Ernestina Godoy, Attorney General, to a meeting of all Mexican Prosecutors
On his third day of his visit to Mexico the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk met with families of the disappeared at ‘Centro Cultural Español’ in the heart of the city.
Disappearances continue to constitute one of Mexico’s gravest human rights crises.
More than 130,000 persons are officially registered as disappeared or missing in the National Registry of Disappeared and Missing Persons.
‘Buscadoras’ or searchers are families of disappeared persons who joined in a collective, they play a central role in search efforts but continue to face serious obstacles in search processes, human identification, access to information and justice.
The father and mother of two such cases told the High commissioner their tragic story:
“My son, Francisco Javier Barajas Piña, was murdered on May 29, 2021, shot 22 times by people connected to a criminal group. My daughter was a teacher. My son was a lawyer. On February 29, 2020 my daughter disappeared. We started searching for her that day. In October 2020, we found her in a clandestine grave in the San Juan neighborhood, in the municipality of Salvatierra, the largest mass grave in the state of Guanajuato. Searching shouldn't cost our life. I sincerely appreciate you receiving families of victims.”
Following the meeting many families had gathered at the entrance of the ‘Centro Cultural Español’ demonstrating for their rights and wishing to meet the High Commissioner.
“I've just met with victims of human rights abuses, people who got tortured, who were put into pretrial detention without any prospect of being released with those who were arbitrarily detained because they fought for the rights of indigenous people, for people who fought for environmental issues. And I met those whose family members had been disappeared, went missing, and I can only feel the pain of all of them about not knowing what happened to their loved ones, not knowing whether others would be affected as well. I met a couple who lost both of their children. First their daughter was disappeared and then when the son was looking for her, he got killed as well. And I have to say, there needs to be an all-out effort to address these issues in a fundamental way,” Human Rights chief said.
The Mexican Attorney General Ernestina Godoy invited the High Commissioner to the bi-annual meeting of all 33 Mexican Public Prosecutors, to present their plan to tackle one of Mexico’s gravest human rights crises.
