Girls and women go missing in Peru during pandemic

Peru's women's ministry said 1,200 women and girls had been reported missing during the pandemic. Filepic

More than 900 women and girls have gone missing in Peru during its coronavirus lockdown, a top women's rights official said recently, calling for the creation of a national missing persons register to addressing the "alarming" number of disappearances.

Records must be kept to track those who go missing, whether they are found alive or dead and whether they are victims of sex trafficking, domestic violence or femicide, said Isabel Ortiz, a women's rights commissioner in the National Ombudsman's office, an independent body that monitors Peru's human rights.