Thousands of People Have Gone Missing in Mexico, and the World Is Finally Noticing Ana Campoy - Quartz | |
go to original October 8, 2015 |
During his visit to Mexico, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein reported that over 151,230 people have been killed since December 2006, 27,000 disappeared, with an impunity rate of 98%. He called on the government to accept criticism and remove the military from public security functions. (teleSUR English)
Since the abduction of 43 students in the Mexican state of Guerrero last year, a procession of international observers has been scrutinizing the state of human rights in Mexico. They don’t like what they’ve found.
After a recent, five-day fact-finding trip to the country, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) called the situation on the ground a “serious human rights crisis.” That followed reports in February and March (links in Spanish) by United Nations officials concluding that disappearances and torture have become a widespread problem there.
The latest watchdog to touch down in Mexico is the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein. The 43 missing students in the Ayotzinapa case, named after the small town where the students attended a rural teachers college, was among the topics he discussed with Mexican senators on Oct. 6. This week he’s meeting with Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto.
Ayotzinapa’s 43 are bringing unprecedented national and international attention to Mexico’s much broader problem with unexplained disappearances.
Because of that case, more than 100 bodies have been unearthed by relatives of the missing students in the outskirts of Iguala, the city where they were taken, according to a preliminary report from the Inter-American commission. The search for the missing 43 also is exposing the plight of some 26,000 other people (link in Spanish) who make up Mexico’s disappeared.
Read the rest at Quartz
Related: UN: 151,230 People Murdered in Mexico Since December 2006 (teleSUR)
Related: President Peña Nieto to Propose Bill to Improve Efforts to Locate Mexico's Missing (WSJ.com)
Related: White House Silent on Torture in Mexico's Missing Students Case (The Huffington Post)
Related: Mexican Soldiers Should be Questioned by Expert Panel: U.N. Official (Reuters)
The presence of international monitors has put Mexico under the spotlight for its pervasive human rights violations, including torture and enforced disappearances. (teleSUR English)
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