Mexico City, May 1 (RHC-NNN)--The Mexican Senate has unanimously approved a bill empowering the Congress to pass legislation on enforced disappearances of which there are currently over 25,000 cases.

The legislation would also include human rights violations such as torture and cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment.

The Senate explained, however, that the laws must be passed within 180 days of the bill going into effect, while the bill also establishes the minimum charges and punishments for people convicted of such crimes.

The amendment is seen as a firm step forward at a time when the country is going through one of the gravest human rights crises since the suppression of the student movement of 1968.

The National Registry of the Disappeared or Missing Persons says 25,821 people in the country have been subjected to enforced disappearances or torture without reason, and that no authorities have been held accountable.