Draft bill 62.

Summary.

The draft bill proposes a National Register of Missing Persons (Registro Nacional de Personas Desaparecidas) and a National Coordination System for the Search and Location of Missing Persons, subject to human rights, due process and personal data protection. It defines eligible family members, reported disappearance, location, reports and complaints, the Register and interoperability. Authorities would act according to principles including promptness, due diligence, confidentiality, cooperation, a humanitarian approach, nondiscrimination and the best interests of children and adolescents where applicable.

The System would serve as a permanent mechanism coordinated by the Public Prosecutor’s Office (Ministerio Público). It would include the Register, the Interinstitutional Technical Committee (Comité Técnico Interinstitucional) and competent public institutions, without changing their legal powers. Its aims would include secure information sharing, avoiding duplicate records and investigations, standardizing protocols and producing statistics for public policy. The Public Prosecutor’s Office would administer the Register, which would centralize case information and actions to support searches, location efforts and identification. Available entries would cover identity details, photographs, distinguishing features, circumstances of disappearance, case files, investigative actions and case outcomes. The Office would set standards for entering, updating, retaining and removing information; authorities would update relevant data promptly until a case concludes.

Institutions holding useful records would implement secure interoperability and use exchanged information solely for the draft bill’s purposes. The Committee would include representatives of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, Ministry of Public Security (Ministerio de Seguridad Pública), National Police (Policía Nacional), National Migration Service (Servicio Nacional de Migración), Electoral Tribunal (Tribunal Electoral), Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences (Instituto de Medicina Legal y Ciencias Forenses), National Authority for Government Innovation (Autoridad Nacional para la Innovación Gubernamental), National Civil Protection System (Sistema Nacional de Protección Civil) where applicable, and other institutions designated by regulation. It would recommend protocols and technical standards, promote interoperability and assess the System in a technical, advisory capacity. All public entities would assist the Public Prosecutor’s Office and provide timely access to useful information under the Political Constitution (Constitución Política) and the law.

Anyone could report or file a complaint about a disappearance with the Public Prosecutor’s Office, National Police or another competent authority, free of charge and without special formalities. The receiving authority would act immediately and promptly forward the information to the Public Prosecutor’s Office. No minimum waiting period could be required. The Office would publish consolidated statistics annually, anonymizing information where appropriate. Register information would be restricted when disclosure could compromise an investigation or protected rights, while strictly necessary information could be released to aid a search following an assessment by the competent authority. The framework would complement the National Amber Alert System (Sistema Nacional de Alerta Amber) and allow international cooperation where there are reasonable indications that a missing person may be abroad. The Executive Branch would issue regulations within the three months following promulgation, when the law would take effect.

In the Republic of Panama (República de Panamá), the provisions would reach the named public entities, missing persons and eligible family members, and could concern security services, data management, civil protection and assistance to families.