Impunity

At the beginning of October, the Chamber of Deputies approved a proposal for the General Law on Disappearances and sent it to the Executive for final approval.

September marked the third anniversary of the mass disappearance of students in Iguala, Guerrero known as the “Ayotzinapa Case”. PBI observed the “Silent March” that commemorated the date, demanded justice, and offered solidarity with the victims and those affected by the recent earthquake.

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.

30 August marked the International Day of Victims of Forced Disappearance. According to oficial statistics, there are about thirty thousand disappeared people in Mexico, and this number could be much greater according to civil society organizations due to the lack of an adequate registry.

On 29 August, the Cerezo Committee Mexico, Urgent Action for the Defense of Human Rights, (ACUDDEH, AC), and the National Campaign against Forced Disappearance presented their 6^th Report. The report documents 1442 violations committed against human rights defenders between June 2016 and May 2017, which means that according to these organizations, there were 50% more aggressions in this period than in the previous period (2015-2016 Report ).

In a press conference, the Network for Documentation of Migrant Defense Organizations (REDODEM) presented the Report, “Migrants in Mexico: traveling on a path of violence.” In this report, the more than 20 organizations that make up the Network – including the Juan Gerardi Human Rights Center and the Brothers on the Path Migrant Shelter — both accompanied by PBI – highlighted the problem of “human mobility due to violence” and demanded respect for the rights of the migrant population in transit and to put an end to the criminalization of people who defend and promote these rights.

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.

26 June was the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, which was created to commemorate the implementation of the UN Convention against torture and other cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment. It is important to remember that in Mexico, at the federal level, the General Law to Prevent, Investigate and Sanction Torture and Other Cruel, Inhumane or Degrading treatment, was approved in the recent legislative period and came into effect on 26 June.

19 June marked the one year anniversary of the “Oaxaca Operation,” carried out by the State and Federal Police in Nochixtlan and four other municipalities. According to different organizations, a series of violent events occurred that led to eight deaths and hundreds of injuries, in addition to psychological damage to dozens of civilians, including children.