The UN Commission on Enforced Disappearances expressed concern on Tuesday over what it described as insufficient investigations into the disappearances in Mexico, the number of which it said was “appalling”, the comparatively few convictions in cases of this nature and the “almost absolute impunity” of those responsible.

According to the official data of the Mexican Ministry of the Interior, there are currently 111,896 people missing in the country.

But this number does not include many more who disappeared and were later found dead.

For the most part, they disappeared after 2006, when then-President Felipe Calderon declared a “war on drugs,” tasking the military to deal with the increasingly powerful cartels. The wave of violence that followed continues to tear the country to this day.

In late July, current President Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced that the government database would be revised, making it clear that he believed the number of missing was actually lower.

This comment by the president caused reactions. Experts and even government officials counter that the number of missing is practically certain to be much higher: many families do not report their disappearances to the authorities, either out of fear of reprisals, or because they do not believe the authorities can or they want to help them.

The UN commission called on the Mexican government to guarantee transparency in the methodology used to update the database. So far, no details of the possible changes have been made public.

Mexico’s interior ministry did not immediately respond when Reuters asked it to comment on the commission’s position.

Any changes to the database should be made in coordination with organizations representing victims and under the independent and impartial direction of the National Commission of Inquiry, the Committee on Enforced Disappearances noted, adding that steps should also be taken to prevent the risk of re-victimization and for the protection of personal data.

Reuters, which has been documenting the work of victims’ family organizations in ten Mexican states for four years, reports that some 180 such collectives have been established.

Mayra Gonzalez, whose sister disappeared in 2016 and was later found murdered, is one of the activists involved in efforts to locate missing persons. “It is important that these cases have visibility”, he emphasizes.