Andrea Horcasitas Martínez (Human Rights Programme, Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico City) in conversation with Anna Karolina Chimiak (Human Rights Centre, Ghent University)
Lunch conversation — participants are invited to bring their own lunch.
During this event, we will discuss Mexico’s disappearance crisis through the lens of clandestine graves, forensic challenges, and the efforts of families searching for their missing loved ones. The event will feature the presentation of Tracing Absence, Walking Towards Hope: Clandestine Graves and Disappearances in Mexico, a report recently published by the Human Rights Programme of Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico City.
The report presents the most comprehensive independent registry of clandestine graves in Mexico to date, documenting their presence across all 32 states of the country. Between 2006 and 2024, state prosecutors reported 5,152 clandestine graves, while independent media-based documentation identified 2,623 additional bodies beyond those officially recognized by the authorities. The discussion will reflect on what these findings reveal about the scale of the disappearance crisis, the challenges of truth and accountability, and the central role of families in advancing search, documentation, and justice efforts
The event will also reflect on current political and human rights developments in Mexico, including the significance of ongoing international scrutiny and, should relevant developments occur, the potential implications of the Article 34 procedure under the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.
Ghent | 16 October
📅 16 October 2026 🕐 13:00-14:00
📍 Classroom 9.1, Campus Aula, Faculty of Law and Criminology, Ghent University (Entrance 8, Universiteitstraat 6) Registration: https://event.ugent.be/registration/tracingAbsenceMexico
If you are unable to join us in Ghent, we will also be hosting a panel discussion in Brussels the day before, organised in collaboration with World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT).
Please find the details below:
Brussels | 15 October
📅 15 October, 4:50 p.m.
📍 Rue de la Linière 11, 1060 Saint-Gilles, Brussels
Room: Shift the Power Registration:
Registration: https://forms.gle/n9kLboBiFf8Ef7uW7
About Andrea Horcasitas Martínez: Coordinator of the Human Rights Centre at Universidad Iberoamericana Mexico City. She holds an MA in International Development from Sciences Po Paris and is currently pursuing an MA in Human Rights at the University of London. She has worked as a consultant for international organisations and agencies such as Plan International, Save the Children, Amnesty International and USAID, and has collaborated with philanthropic foundations such as Fundación Avina to support local community initiatives and social movements in Latin America. At the heart of her work is accompanying families searching for their missing loved ones in Mexico.
About Anna Karolina Chimiak: Human rights lawyer and doctoral researcher at the Human Rights Centre, Ghent University. Her research examines documentation practices led by families of the disappeared in Mexico. For more than a decade, she has provided comprehensive accompaniment to families of the disappeared, including through her work as Co-Director of the Centro de Justicia para la Paz y el Desarrollo (CEPAD), a human rights organisation based in Guadalajara, Mexico. The persistence, courage, and dignity of families searching for their loved ones have been a fundamental source of inspiration and motivation throughout her professional trajectory.
October 16, 2026
13:00 - 14:00
