RSF and Propuesta Cívica file two new complaints with the UN over the enforced disappearance of journalists in Mexico

One day before the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances — Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the Mexican NGO Propuesta Cívica submitted two complaints against the Mexican state to the UN Human Rights Committee in Geneva concerning missing journalists. The complaints denounce the enforced disappearance of two news professionals and highlight the systemic failures in the country’s investigative system that foster impunity for crimes against journalists in a country plagued by widespread violence against the press. In Mexico, at least 28 journalists have gone missing, most of them for nearly two decades, with no information about their fate or whereabouts.


The complaints ask the Committee to admit the cases of María Esther Aguilar Cansimbe, who disappeared in Michoacán in 2009, and José Antonio García Apac, who disappeared in Michoacán in 2006, to recognise Mexico’s responsibility for their enforced disappearance, and to determine the violations of their rights to life, integrity, liberty, legal recognition and freedom of expression, as well as the rights of their families.


“These cases show that the enforced disappearance of journalists remains an open wound in Mexico. State inaction and rampant impunity have left bereft families without truth nor justice. Bringing the cases of María Esther Cansimbe and José Antonio Apac before the UN Human Rights Committee is an opportunity to finally obtain accountability for their dissapearances, by holding Mexico responsible under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Antoine Bernard, RSF Advocacy and Assistance Director.

“In recent decades, Mexico has become one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists. The forced disappearance of journalist María Esther Cansimbe and José Antonio Apac are examples of the extreme violence against the press in Mexico and a testament to the serious impunity that persists, the absence of a public criminal policy to diligently investigate serious violations, and the Mexican state's lack of will to punish these crimes and prevent them from happening again. Access to justice for victims remains a lonely and tortuous path.

Sara Mendiola, Executive Director of Propuesta Cívica.

Two dedicated journalists

María Esther Aguilar Cansimbe covered human rights and public security for the print media outlets El Diario de Zamora and El Cambio de Michoacán. She disappeared on 11 November 2009. Her case was marred by serious negligence: no immediate search, omission of key evidence and years-long delays in basic investigative steps. In 2024, a Mexican court recognised that her rights to justice and truth were violated due to this negligence, but the measures ordered by the judge remain unimplemented.

José Antonio García Apac, founder and editor of the weekly Eco de la Cuenca del Tepalcatepec, disappeared on 20 November 2006, after allegedly being stopped by security forces in Buenavista Tomatlán, a town in the state of Michoacán. Witnesses heard the journalist being interrogated, reportedly by military personnel, and the sound of scuffles before contact was lost. In 2024 — eighteen years later — a federal judge ruled that both the Special Prosecutor for Crimes against Freedom of Expression (FEADLE) and the National Search Commission had failed to exercise due diligence. The court’s orders remain unfulfilled and unsupervised as authorities continue to ignore key leads tied to his journalistic work and possible state involvement in his disappearance.

Every single case of a disappeared journalist in Mexico has been met with total impunity for the individuals responsible. Investigations have stalled even though families filed complaints at the time of the disappearances. Most of the 28 cases of missing journalists occurred during the so-called “war on drugs,” which has ravaged the country for more than 24 years under four successive governments.

Previous cases before the UN

These new filings build on two earlier complaints submitted by RSF and Propuesta Cívica on 2 November 2022 — the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists — concerning Mauricio Estrada Zamora, who disappeared in 2008, and Ramón Ángeles Zalpa, who disappeared in 2010, also in Michoacán. In 2023, the UN Human Rights Committee admitted both cases and initiated the analysis procedure, requesting information from the Mexican state.

In the Ramón Ángeles Zalpa case, RSF and Propuesta Cívica formally responded to the Mexican government’s 1 April 2025 report, in which it denied responsibility and downplayed 15 years of impunity. The organisations stressed that the state has committed violations both by action and omission, leaving the investigation stalled. This highlights the importance of international mechanisms, such as investigations by the UN Human Rights Committee, as a necessary recourse against the persistent impunity and structural violence against journalists in Mexico.

Demands before the UN Human Rights Committee

Across all four cases, RSF and Propuesta Cívica request that the Committee:

• Internationally recognise Mexico’s responsibility for the enforced disappearance of journalists.
• Order the immediate reactivation of independent investigations, taking into account issues of gender.
• Oblige Mexico to provide comprehensive reparations to the families of missing journalists and guarantees of non-repetition.
• Establish international oversight mechanisms for cases of journalist disappearances.