Disappearances

On March 11, 2021, the parallel event took place within the framework of the 46th session of the UN Human Rights C

In a context of debates and proposals in Mexico around the conformation of a National Guard in charge of pubic security, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) published it´s sentence in the Alvarado Case on 28th November 2018, an emblematic case of forced disappearances caused by the context of militarisation, that happened in 2009 in the State of Chihuahua.  An historic tragedy, this case tells of the various serious human rights issues in the country: forced disappearances, forced displacement, impunity and militarisation

2018 has been a challenging year for human rights across the world.  Many of those defending human rights have been threatened, attacked and undermined, despite the celebration of 20 years of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders.  PBI remains committed to protecting the space in which human rights defenders continue their arduous work in steadfast conviction that only when this protection is truly guaranteed will peaceful and democratic societies advance across the world. 

As we commemorate 4 years from the disappearance of the 43 students from the rural college of Ayotzinapa (Guerrero), PBI stands in solidarity with all those searching for their family members, coming up against unbearable impunity with strength and inspiring dignity.

The past two sessions (167 and 168) of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) in 2018, saw a panorama of hearings about Mexico which offer a bleak overview of the human rights situation in the country.  These cases confirm the human rights crisis that the IACHR observed in their insitu visit to Mexico in 2015.  The impacts of public security policies and the prevalence of impunity in cases of human rights violations were also highlighted.  These violations not only represent obstacles for the development of peaceful societies, but also represent serious challenges f

Experts in forensic anthropology from the Federal Prosecutor’s Office (PGR) carried out a new search for evidence in Atoyac, specifically at the former site of the 27^th Infantry Battalion. Following Tita Radilla’s request, PBI accompanied AFADEM during this exercise.

On 13 September the Paso del Norte Human Rights Center, an organization that is accompanied by PBI, provided information in a press release about the release of Mr. J. Valdez, one of the people that they accompanied in legal proceedings.

On 6 July, in the context of the 163^rd period of sessions of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in Peru, members of the Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez Human Rights Center (PRODH) and the Tlachinollan Human Rights Center, as well as families and representatives of the 43 students of the Normal School of Ayotzinapa who disappeared in September 2014, participated in a session about the special mechanism to monitor the case.

The International Federation of Human Rights (Fidh) and the Fray Juan de Larios Human Rights Center (FJdL) – an organization accompanied by PBI – delivered a report to the International Criminal Court (ICC) on 6 July in which they requested an investigation for crimes against humanity committed in the state of Coahuila between 2009 and 2016.

On 10 June Abel Barrera from the Tlachinollan Human Rights Center met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. During the meeting Mr. Barrera expressed concern about the impunity in the case of the disappearance of 43 students in Ayotzinapa.