To mark the third anniversary of the mass disappearance which occurred in May 2015 in Chilapa, Guerrero, civil society organizations including the José Maria Morelos y Pavon Human Rights Center, the Tlachinollan Human Rights Center (both organizations accompanied by PBI) and the Collective Against Torture and Impunity (CCTI) organized the forum “Victims of a Failed State: Disappearances, Executions and Displacements”, which took place on 11 May in the Congressional Building in Chilpancingo. PBI observed the event.

Mexico City, 12 May 2017.– Don't miss our May Newsletter for the latest news on Human Rights in Mexico!

Topics include: IACHR Mechanism to Ayotzinapa case visit Mexico; Legislative initiatives on Disappearance and Torture; Accompaniment Consortium Oaxaca; Protection Measures to the Choreachi community; Accompaniment tour in the State of Coahuila; amongst others.

During the month of April, during the first period of ordinary sessions of Congress, legislative advances were made with regard to the General Law to Prevent, Investigate and Sanction Torture and Other Cruel, Inhumane or Degrading treatment and the General Law on Forced Disappearance and Disappearance Committed by Individuals.

Abel Barrera Hernandez, Director and founder of the Tlachinollan Human Rights Center, an organization accompanied by PBI, received an honorary mention on 29 March from the Franco Alemán Gilberto BosquesHuman Rights Award.

In April, PBI travelled to Saltillo and Torreon, Coahuila in order to meet with members of the Juan Gerardi Human Rights Center, an organization that has received PBI accompaniment since 2013. On 26 April the organization celebrated 18 years of work promoting a human rights culture through the Jesús Torres Migrant Day Center and the collective of relatives United Forces for our Disappeared in Coahuila – Mexico (FUUNDEC-M).

In April, the Don Sergio Méndez Arceo National Human Rights Award, the winners of which are chosen by Mexican civil society organizations, was presented in Cuernavaca. This year, the award was granted to Sister Leticia Gutiérrez Valderrama, a missionary and member of SMR Scalabrinianas who accompany and protect migrants in Mexico.

The second official visit of the Mechanism that monitors the precautionary measures granted to the students of the “Raul Isidro Burgos” rural school in Ayotzinapa (MC 409/14) and the recommendations of the Inter-Disciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI) took place between 19 and 21 April 2017.

On 17 March, the Saltillo Migrant House participated in a thematic hearing requested by several human rights organizations entitled “Mexico: Applicants for Asylum and Refugee Status” convened by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in Washington DC. During this hearing, representatives of Mexican civil society and the Federal Government discussed the current human rights situation of people who requested asylum and refugee status in the country.

According to a recent communique from ProDESC, on 17 March the Sixth District Judge located in Salina Cruz in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Oaxaca, ruled that the appeal by the Popular Assembly of the Juchiteco People (APPJ), which was filed on 19 August 2015, was denied.

Mexico City, 17 April 2017.– Don't miss our April Newsletter for the latest news on Human Rights in Mexico!

Topics include:Internacional concern for the murder of journalists in México; Ayotzinapa case in IACH; Situation for Human Rights Defenders in the Sierra Tarahumara at the UN Human Rights Council; event in Chilpancingo: "Human Rights an security"; Accompaniment tour in Carbon Region of Coahuila and to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Oaxaca; worried about the recent death threats towards Father Solalinde; amongst others.