Murphy Woodhouse/KJZZ

Searchers dig up a promising spot outside Hermosillo in late May 2019, but no evidence of a body was found.

This week, federal human rights officials have been meeting with groups searching for missing loved ones in the Mexican state of Sonora.

Sonora has the tragic distinction of having more clandestine graves discovered in recent years than almost all other Mexican states, according to federal report released over the summer. Much of that physically and emotionally challenging work is done by groups led by women searching for missing loved ones. Now, they’re asking the National Human Rights Commission for help.

“The purpose of the visit from the (commission) is for them to be the intermediary between the families of disappeared people and the state attorney,” said Ceci Flores, the leader of the Madres Buscadoras de Sonora, one of a number of groups searching in the state.

She added that they want the Attorney’s Office to do more to support searching and confront widespread violence in Sonora.