OHCHR urges Mexico to consider recommendations on case of missing students

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) today urged the Government of Mexico to take into serious consideration the recommendations made recently by a group of independent experts regarding the case of the enforced disappearance in Iguala of 43 students and the killing of six others in 2014.

“The Iguala case shows the crucial role that international cooperation can play in helping States to fight impunity for serious human rights violations,” said Rupert Colville, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, in a press briefing earlier today in Geneva.

Mr. Colville said that OHCHR commended the “invaluable work” of the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (IGIE) in Mexico on the six killings and the missing students from the Ayotzinapa teacher-training college in the Mexican state of Guerrero.

The IGIE, which was appointed by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and invited by the Mexican Government to follow up on the investigation of the case, published an 605-page report on Sunday.

Mr. Colville noted that as High Commissioner Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein stressed during his mission to Mexico last October, it is “very important that the Government acts decisively on the IGIE's recommendations and ensures the rights to truth and justice of the victims and their families.”

Welcoming the willingness expressed by the President of Mexico and the Attorney-General's Office to take into serious consideration the Group's recommendations, Mr. Colville urged them to “fully explore the new lines of inquiry suggested by the Group, and to strengthen the investigations into this emblematic case.”

He also said that OHCHR was concerned about the “many challenges and obstacles” reported by the experts that may have prevented certain lines of inquiries from being further explored, including regarding the roles and responsibilities of the military and other official authorities.

“We call on the Government to ensure effective follow-up to the investigation report and to tackle the broader structural challenges it has exposed. We also encourage the Government to engage with the follow-up mechanism that the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights has announced that it will establish,” Mr. Colville said.