This number is nothing short of staggering:

More than 100,000 people are now listed as missing in violence-wracked Mexico, a grim milestone that the United Nations rights chief on Tuesday called "a tragedy of enormous proportions."

Rights groups appealed for urgent action to tackle disappearances that have skyrocketed during years of spiraling drug-related violence.

The National Registry of Missing Persons, which has been tracking disappearances since 1964, said that as of Monday the whereabouts of 100,012 people were unknown. About 75 percent are men.

In case it were unclear what's driving the surge in missing persons:

Public agents and organised crime are responsible for Mexico's soaring numbers of enforced disappearance, the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances said in findings published today. The Committee called for immediate actions to end absolute impunity and a national policy to prevent this human tragedy.

"Organized crime has become a central perpetrator of disappearance in Mexico, with varying degrees of participation, acquiescence or omission by public servants," the Committee said in a report concluding its delegation's visit to Mexico in November.

Organized crime—in Mexico and elsewhere—is of course being driven by insatiable greed, violence, machismo and pride, all of it fueled by dueling desires for cash and narcotics.

How does the UN, for one, think this should be solved?

"States parties are directly responsible for enforced disappearances committed by public officials, but may also be accountable for disappearances committed by criminal organizations," the Committee stressed.

Yeah I'm not sure we should count on the countless corrupt, paid-off governments of Mexico to fix this problem.

Only relentless pursuit of criminal organizations by uncompromised government officials will end this scourge. I'm not holding my breath for that happening tomorrow.

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