Mexico passes law to compensate victims of crime The poet Javier Sicilia (left) leads the Peace with Justice and Dignity movement, which is calling for an end to drug violence. Photograph: Eduardo Verdugo/AP The Mexican congress has passed a law to recognise and protect the rights of crime victims. The move has long been demanded in a country where more than 47,500 people have died in five years of drug-related violence, and thousands more have disappeared. The law covers the dead, wounded, kidnapped or missing whether they are ordinary civilians or are members of drug cartels and other crime gangs. It would also cover victims of other crimes, such as extortion. Both houses of congress have approved the measure, which must now be signed into law by the president, who supports the move. The law will establish a national registry of victims and set aside funds to compensate them, funded in part by the assets seized from organised crime groups. The compensation payments could reach 1m pesos (£47,000) apiece. The law requires officials to make efforts to identify crime victims' remains, and to locate those who may still be alive. Relatives of people who have gone missing during drug-related violence in the country often claim that the authorities are slow or reluctant to help find missing people. Hundreds of bodies have been found in mass graves, and thousands more hacked to pieces, dissolved or dumped. Those victims, often believed to be drug gang members killed by rivals, often go unidentified.