Policeman accused of sex trafficking, while 12,000 women and girls vanish in ‘shadow pandemic’

Judith Machaca was last seen on her way home from work in her home town of Tacna in southern Peru. The environmental engineering student had been working part-time at a mobile phone shop and would always send a message if she was going to be late.

The last text message from her phone was sent at 11pm on 28 November and the next day her distraught father reported the 20-year-old’s disappearance to the police. They sent him away, saying that she was probably with a boyfriend and would show up soon enough.

Related: ‘Shadow pandemic’ of violence against women to be tackled with $25m UN fund

By reporting a disappearance, you could be reporting it to the trafficker himself

No body, no crime

This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.