Mexico: Woman Human Rights Defender Disappeared

Sandra Domínguez is an Ayuuk indigenous defender from Oaxaca, a state located in southern Mexico. She is a lawyer and litigates cases of violence against women. In 2020, she publicly denounced a WhatsApp group where officials of the state of Oaxaca participated. In that chat, sexual images of indigenous women were circulating. Sandra, who was one of the victims whose images were shared, filed a criminal complaint against one of the officials involved in the chat. 

The number of missing and disappeared people remained high in Mexico. In 2024, the National Search Commission (CNB) registered at least 10,228 new denounces of missing and disappeared people. According to official figures, a total of 116,615 people were registered as missing and disappeared between 1952 and October 2024. 

Disappearance drives families, loved ones, and communities to search for their loved ones. Relatives searching for disappeared and missing people faced serious risks, including enforced disappearance, killing, repression and threats. In the report Searching Without Fear: International Standards for protecting women searchers in the Americas, Amnesty International draws on international human rights law to make the case that searching for forcibly disappeared persons is a right. Given that most searchers in the Americas are women, the report also details states’ international obligations to protect against the unique risks, threats, and attacks that, as women, they face.