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Mexico ended 2015 with nearly 10,000 complaints of alleged human rights abuses, representing an increase of 18 percent compared to the figures recorded in 2014.
President of Mexico's National Commission of Human Rights (CNDH), Luis Raul Gonzalez, released the numbers Wednesday as part of his annual address.
Mexico is one of the countries in the region with the most cases of torture, arbitrary executions, human trafficking and forced disappearances. In 2015 alone, 453 cases of disappearances were registered, while in the past decade some 27,000 people have been reported missing and another 150,000 killed, with reported links to organized crime.
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According to Gonzalez, by the end of 2015 the CNDH had received 3,152 human rights complaints relating to improper provision of public services like security, 1,871 complaints relating to lack of honesty and impartiality in state services, and 1,697 complaints for refusing medical care.
The government body that saw the most marked by human rights violations is the Mexican Social Security Institute, who saw 2,185 complaints filed against it, added Gonzalez.
“Society increasingly expects less and is more distrustful of institutions,” said Gonzalez.
The CNDH president added that Mexico is torn between “resignation and transformation,” but choosing the second option, without “political interest or expediency,” becomes a “moral imperative.”
Among some of the worst cases of human rights abuses recently seen in the country include the 2015 Apatzingan massacre where 10 civilians were killed in an operation led by the federal police force, according to CNDH research.
Another case was the 43 students from the Ayotzinapa teacher training school in Guerrero who were disappeared in 2014 at the hands of corrupt local police and cartel members, who kidnapped the kids, killed them and burnt their remains, according to the government's version of events.
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Investigations continue into the case however, since relatives of the students and rights groups are skeptical of the state's explanation, accusing other government bodies of being involved.
According to Gonzalez, the 2015 numbers indicate shortcomings and weak rule of law in the country, urging the Mexican government to defend human rights.
President Enrique Peña Nieto's administration has so far been dismissive of both national and international human rights organizations, and has rejected reports released by organizations like the United Nations and the Organization for American States' denouncing Mexico's human rights abuses.
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