translated from Spanish: UN gives Mexico two years to demilitarize the National Guard and solve Ayotzinapa case

The United Nations Human Rights Committee gave the Mexican State two years to respond to recommendations regarding demilitarizing the National Guard, resolving the case of the 43 missing students from Ayotzinapa and fortifying the mechanism, as well as measures to protect human rights defenders and journalists.
In its sixth periodic report by Mexico by the Committee, the UN regretted that despite the seriousness of the Ayotzinapa case and despite the recommendations of international human rights bodies and the measures taken, “the State party has not clarified the whereabouts of the students.”
“It must strengthen the research and independence capacity of all the actors involved in the investigation,” he insisted.
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Although the government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has created a Truth Commission for the case, and the Prosecutor’s Office pledged to restart the investigation “almost from scratch”, the UN Committee said that “the investigative capacity and independence of all actors involved in the investigation, including prosecutors and experts, as well as ensuring the consolidation of the accusatory system and the autonomy of the institutions of justice.”
Regarding the National Guard, the UN called for reforms in training its ranks to prevent abuses that the Committee has denounced in other Mexican security forces.
The National Guard, made up mostly of military, is López Obrador’s strategy to curb the escalating violence in Mexico, although since the beginning of June, the elements were deployed on the country’s southern border mostly to contain Central American migrants seeking to reach the United States.
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“The state must move away from a militarized approach of law enforcement and move forward in the process of forming the National Guard as a civilian institution,” the UN said.
The Committee also urged the Mexican government to end the harassment of journalists and human rights defenders, and underlined its concern about the mistreatment of undocumented migrants crossing the country to the United States.
The measures to be implemented by the Mexican State by November 2021 will be: Strengthen the Protection Mechanism for Human Rights Defenders and Journalists, including its headquarters in the states, as well as the “allocation of financial and adequate staff for their jobs.”
Here you can see the 48 concluding observations adopted by the UN Human Rights Committee on Mexico’s sixth periodic report.
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Original source in Spanish