Annual Report
Defense, justice
and memory in human rights

Ivette Melissa Flores Román

The Mexican State acknowledged its international responsibility for the disappearance of Ivette Melissa, which occurred in 2012. This is the first ruling in CEDAW's history on enforced disappearance in Mexico.

Background and facts

Ivette Melissa Flores Román, a 19-year-old young woman, was a victim of enforced disappearance on the night of October 19, 2012. An armed commando, with covered faces and dressed in black, violently entered her home in Iguala, Guerrero, after shooting through the front door.

The case is marked by a context of prior gender-based violence: Ivette Melissa had been subjected to physical and psychological harassment by her ex-partner. The participation of State agents —specifically members of the Ministerial Police— is presumed in her disappearance, which qualifies the crime as enforced disappearance.

Strategic litigation

IDHEAS has accompanied Ms. Sandra Luz Román Jaimes, Ivette Melissa's mother and founder of the collective "Madres Igualtecas", through a litigation process spanning more than a decade.

• Accompaniment and protection: security measures for Sandra Luz through the Protection Mechanism for Human Rights Defenders and Journalists, including a vehicle and federal security personnel.
• Advocacy in the investigation: requests to change the Public Prosecutor's Office due to lack of gender perspective, revictimization, and denial of access to the preliminary investigation file.
• Targeted search: coordination of working groups with the National Search Commission (CNB) to conduct inspections at specific sites in Iguala such as "Tijeritas," "El Huerto," "La Fermín Rabadán," and "La Marranera."

CEDAW's historic ruling

IDHEAS brought the case before the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), obtaining the first ruling in this body's history on enforced disappearance in Mexico.

• Recognition: the Committee recognized that the disappearance of women is an extreme form of gender-based violence and discrimination, underscoring that the Mexican State failed in its duty to prevent and investigate with due diligence.
• State obligations: the ruling requires Mexico to conduct an effective search for Ivette Melissa, sanction those responsible, and provide comprehensive reparation to her mother.
• Compliance in 2025: reparation for damages was approved through the Trust Fund for International Decisions and, on May 9, 2025, the Mexican State held a public ceremony of International Responsibility Acknowledgment and Public Apology.

Impact and precedent

This case has transformed international standards by compelling the State to implement structural measures to protect women and to recognize the intersection between prior domestic violence and enforced disappearance. It represents a milestone for families of the disappeared, demonstrating that international litigation can break the cycle of institutional impunity in Mexico.

Yonathan Mendoza Berrospe

The Ministry of the Interior (SEGOB) issued a public apology to the family of Yonathan, who was disappeared in 2013 when he was only 17 years old. The ceremony underscores the binding nature of international mechanisms in cases of disappearance committed by State agents.

Context and background (2010–2016)

Yonathan's disappearance took place during a period of extreme violence in Veracruz under the administration of Javier Duarte, characterized by systematic attacks against the civilian population by state security forces. The State Police —then under the command of Arturo Bermúdez Zurita— frequently acted as a repressive force, carrying out arbitrary detentions and enforced disappearances.

Facts of the case

Yonathan Isaac Mendoza Berrospe was only 17 years old at the time of his disappearance.

• The detention: on the night of December 11, 2013, agents of the State Police and the Veracruz Investigation Agency (AVI) violently and without judicial order raided his home in the city of Veracruz.
• Modus operandi: testimonies from family members indicate that the agents arrived asking directly for him, suggesting a planned and coordinated operation. He was forced into an official vehicle and, since that moment, his whereabouts remain unknown.

Litigation before the Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED)

IDHEAS took on legal representation of the case and brought it before the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED). The Committee determined the following:

• State responsibility: there was compelling evidence of the direct participation of State agents in Yonathan's deprivation of liberty.
• Failure to search: Mexican authorities did not act with due diligence or promptness; the search for truth cannot rest exclusively on the initiative of family members.
• Legal classification: the international body formally classified the act as enforced disappearance under the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.

Recognition and reparation (2025)

• Public apology: on August 22, 2025, the Ministry of the Interior led a ceremony of international responsibility acknowledgment and public apology to Yonathan's family.
• Political significance: the act validated the struggle of families against the structural impunity in Veracruz and reaffirmed the binding nature of UN rulings on the Mexican State.
• State admission: during follow-up, the Mexican State formally acknowledged that Yonathan was detained by armed men wearing uniforms and driving official vehicles identified as belonging to the naval and state police.

Impact on the fight against impunity

Yonathan's case has been incorporated by IDHEAS into updates submitted to the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), as evidence of the systematic attacks and crimes against humanity committed in Veracruz. Its resolution marks a crucial step toward justice in a state that leads the national statistics on clandestine graves and enforced disappearances.

The Cost of Searching

This report documents the severe impacts on the physical and mental health suffered by families —primarily mothers, wives, daughters, and sisters— as they take on the work of searching in the face of State omission.

The document is the result of an extensive and participatory investigation conducted by IDHEAS together with various collectives of family members. It systematizes how the State's failure to search for disappeared persons has transferred a devastating physical, economic, and emotional burden onto families, primarily onto women.

Key findings · Health as collateral damage

The research reveals that searching is not only a legal process, but a factor of systemic biological and psychological deterioration.

Impact on physical health.

• Chronic degenerative diseases: an atypical increase in diagnoses of diabetes, arterial hypertension, and heart conditions was documented immediately after the disappearance and the beginning of field search activities.
• Deterioration from exposure: women searchers present respiratory and dermatological problems caused by prolonged exposure to extreme climates and substances in clandestine graves without adequate protective equipment.

Psycho-emotional impacts.

• Secondary trauma and suspended grief: permanent uncertainty prevents the natural grieving process, generating severe depression, generalized anxiety, and PTSD.
• Guilt and stigma: families face a "social death" due to the stigma from authorities, who frequently criminalize both direct and indirect victims.

Economic precariousness.

• Families dedicate up to 70% of their income to transportation costs, excavation tools, and legal procedures, which deepens poverty and limits access to private health services in the face of ineffective public ones.

Deficient institutional response

The report denounces that health institutions (IMSS, ISSSTE, local Ministries of Health) and the Executive Commission for Victim Assistance (CEAV) systematically fail in:

• Lack of specialized approach: health personnel are not trained to treat victims of disappearance, resulting in revictimization.
• Bureaucracy in assistance measures: access to medications and specialized treatment is conditioned on excessive procedures that further wear down families.

Key recommendations

• National health program for women searchers: specialized medical and psychological care units with a human rights and gender perspective.
• Comprehensive reparation for damage: compensation measures should also cover the treatment of chronic illnesses developed during the search process.
• Self-care and safety protocols: biosecurity kits and mandatory medical accompaniment during search brigades.
• Sensitive training: mandatory training programs for health and victim-assistance personnel to eliminate stigmatization and institutional violence.
• Recognition of searching as care work: legislation that socially recognizes search labor and guarantees paid leave for family members searching for their loved ones.

Searching with a sexual-gender
diversity perspective

Two pioneering tools that make visible the disappearance of LGBTTTIQA+ persons in Mexico, developed with direct input from trans people, families, and forensic specialists.

Bodies that matter · Forensic manual

A forensic manual for the identification of binary and non-binary trans people. Validated by trans people and authorities, it replaced the initial concept of "protocol" to align with institutional regulations. The document proposes strategies and actions for identification processes that dignify the lives of binary and non-binary trans people even after death.

What to do in the face of a person's disappearance in Mexico?

A sensitive guide for acting with respect for dignity and sexual-gender diversity. It was developed with feedback from the Search Commission of the State of Mexico (COBUPEM), binary and non-binary trans people, human rights defenders, forensic experts, and mothers searching for trans women.

Key findings

• Institutional obstacles: interviews with forensic experts revealed that current protocols (such as those of INCIFO) require registration of biological sex, ignoring bodily modifications that indicate a transition, thereby invisibilizing trans victims.
• Dignity in death: participants in focus groups emphasized that the creation of these manuals is an act of dignification, preventing biological families who reject a person's identity from misgendering their bodies at burial.
• Intersectional perspective: violence does not affect all identities equally; trans femininity is particularly subjected to patriarchal violence, and geographic context (such as the periphery of the State of Mexico versus central neighborhoods in Mexico City) determines vulnerability levels.

Contributions to the UN in 2025

Recognition of chosen family

Key contributions were submitted to the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions and to the IACHR, leading the Rapporteur to highlight in their July 2024 report the need to guarantee the rights of chosen families.

Participation before treaty bodies

Information was submitted to the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) for the General Observation on women and girls, emphasizing that the return of bodies should not depend solely on the discretion of the Public Prosecutor, but should respect the bonds of chosen family.