[JURIST] UN human rights experts on Wednesday welcomed[press release] a report [text, PDF] pertaining to the enforced disappearance, torture and executions of students from Ayotzinapa in the Mexican state last year. Last week the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) [official website] called upon Mexico to address [JURIST report] the failure of its investigation into the disappearance of 43 students from a teacher’s college in Ayotzinapa. The experts stated that a “[p]rompt and diligent implementation of the recommendations will promote the proper investigation and punishment of those responsible, the clarification of the facts, as well as the search for the victims and redress for them.” This past week Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] argued [JURIST report] that the Mexican Attorney General’s Office [official website, in Spanish] should investigate claims of abuse and obstruction of justice lodged by an expert group appointed by the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (IAHCR). In a report published earlier this year, the IAHCR group refuted the official account of the students’ fate; the national report alleges the students were ultimately incinerated in a garbage dump by members of a criminal group after a clash with the police.

According to government figures, more than 25,000 people have gone missing in Mexico since 2007. While the problem of disappearances is widespread in Mexico, no particular case has drawn more attention than that of the Ayotzinapa students. One of the first major breakthroughs in the case occurred in mid-November when Jose Luis Abarca, a former Mayor of Iguala, was charged [JURIST report] with homicide in the case. In late January Mexican authorities arrested [JURIST report] a hit man for the Guerreros Unidos gang, which is believed to be behind the murder of the disappeared students, along with 100 other people believed to be connected to the crime. Two days later Mexican officials issued final findings [JURIST report] on the case and declared that all the students were believed to be dead, even though DNA testing has only affirmatively confirmed the death of one. Mexico has faced much criticism from international actors on their efforts to resolve the problem of disappearances. Later that month, Amnesty International issued a statement urging [JURIST report] the Mexican government to adhere to UN recommendations on how to investigate the disappearances of its citizens. In July, AI opined [JURIST report] that the discovery of 129 bodies in the southern state of Guerrero “confirms what we had already found: the sheer magnitude of the crisis of enforced disappearances in Guerrero and elsewhere in Mexico is truly shocking.”