Alba Protocol: what are the phases of the search mechanism to locate missing women and girls

Given the rampant number of disappearances of women and girls in the country, and after the recent announcement by the United Nations (UN), which warned about a increase in such loss, it will be important to remember what the Alba protocol is and what its role is in Mexico.

This is a mechanism initially implemented in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, because after the first femicide recorded in that entity in 1993, the families of victims began with measures to locate the missing women, one of them being at dawn looking, that's where their name “Alba” comes from. However, it was until 2003 that this protocol was formalized.

For this reason, this mechanism started in that city, located in northeastern Mexico, and then spread to other entities of the national territory. It is an action and coordination plan implemented by the three levels of government, which involve the media, civil society, as well as public and private agencies, to find the whereabouts of a woman throughout Mexico.

It is an important strategy, as the first few hours of searching are crucial to finding people alive. Its main objective is precisely to begin with the immediate search for the disappeared.

The role of the Alba Protocol focuses on three main phases:

*Phase 1

-The report will be filed with the Public Prosecutor's Office, Specialized Prosecutor's Office for Women, where data, photographs and biological samples will be taken.

-Members of the Public Prosecutor's Office must report general data, photographs and investigations to police corporations: municipal, state and federal.

-The MP will also assess the degree of risk of the missing woman, to activate the second phase.

*Phase 2

-Public Prosecutor's Office sends an email to the operational technical group links with the office, research and general data of the person. -Each link sends a report every 12 hours with information about the search. -It is evaluated to activate the third phase.

*Phase 3

-The MP will investigate the prosecution of a crime, collect and analyze information from previous phases. -The Investigative Police establishes and exhausts possible lines of investigation.

-Comprehensive care is requested for family members of the different institutions involved in the protocol.

-MP sends a letter for the intervention of international authorities.

More than 15 years after its operation, the Alba protocol of Ciudad Juárez has reached a 98% effectiveness in locating women in that municipality. That is why it was considered to be of “great importance” to the rest of the country.

The creation of several Technical Committees has also been agreed in states where they have not been created, but an Alba Protocol is already in place. In addition, it was agreed to inform Conavim on the systematization of care provided in that protocol, as well as in the case of missing women.

It should be remembered that the most recent case of a young woman who disappeared in Mexico is that of Debanhi Susana Escobar Bazaldua, 18 years old, who to date was does not know his whereabouts, after he was last on a highway in Escobedo, Nuevo León.

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