With over 100,000 missing people, Mexicans mark day of enforced disappearances

Wearing T-shirts with portraits of people who disappeared, protesters blocked one of the main avenues of Mexico City as a reminder there are over 100,000 people who have officially gone missing in the country.

A map of Mexico with the searching sites pinned on was drawn on the floor, as protesters requested the government to step in to help them find their missing relatives.

Drone footage shot near the iconic Angel of Independence monument showed giant words forming a sign reading "Where are they?"

Mexican human rights groups and relatives of people who have gone missing call for authorities to take bigger steps to fight kidnappings and hold perpetrators accountable.

Mexico’s top human rights official Alejandro Encinas recognised the actions taken by the government to address this problem haven't worked and said they will keep on cooperating with the families to improve the situation.

Meanwhile, at a panel also in Mexico City on Tuesday, victims' relatives and agencies representatives complained about the lack of justice and ineffectiveness to address the issue.

The Founder of Fuerzas Unidas por Nuestros Desaparecidos en Nuevo Leon (FUNDEL), Leticia Hidalgo, whose son has been missing since 2011, said the government needs to work harder and take real measures in the matter.

After 11 years of searching, Maria Lidia Morales has still not found her husband, brother-in-law and cousin, who disappeared when they travelled to the U.S.

Morales, who went to the protest, said realizing she was not alone in the search for her loved ones had encouraged her to not give up hope.

Through a video message, the United Nations human rights chief Michelle Bachelet pointed out the impunity embedded in these crimes and said Mexico "needs to review its security model."

This month has seen some progress in one of the country's most notorious cases, as a top prosecutor was arrested and charged in connection with the disappearance of 43 students in 2014, which the government now considers a state crime.

But with 52,000 unidentified bodies and 105,000 people reported missing - 5,000 of those added since last May - activists are saying the current progress is not enough.