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	Disappearances, Deaths of Mexican Students sparks Federal Investigation by Melissa del Pozo AP, Vice News, agencies Mexico   October 07, 2014   43 students declared missing after attack on buses carrying group to their school.   Responding to the discovery of a mass grave thought to contain the bodies of dozens of students who were attacked by local police last month, Mexican federal agents on Monday were dispatched to the city of Iguala in southern Guerrero state to investigate the scene.   On September 26, two busloads of students from a local teachers college, the Raúl Isidro Burgos Ayotzinapa Normal School, were attacked. According to surviving students who were interviewed by VICE News, local Iguala police and other armed men "surrounded and confronted the buses on the outskirts of Iguala," and opened fire.   After the gunfire, six students were dead and dozens of the survivors fled the scene or were detained; forty-three have been declared missing.   On October 5, authorities said they had discovered mass graves containing the burned remnants of "at least" 28 bodies thought to be the missing students. However, proper identification through genetic testing could take up to two months, say officials.   President Enrique Peña Nieto called the deaths "outrageous, painful and unacceptable" and said that he had ordered a newly created preventative unit of the federal security forces to take over security in the city, "find out what happened and apply the full extent of the law to those responsible."   Charged with keeping "law and order" in the city of 140,000, the paramilitary-like forces and convoys of Army trucks are now patrolling the streets of Iguala, while federal soldiers man checkpoints.   According to the Associated Press, "The Guerrero state prosecutor Inaky Blanco said there was no known motive for the attack, but officials have alleged that local police were in league with a gang called the Guerreros Unidos." Twenty-two officers from the Iguala force have reportedly been detained.   Though the Mexican government has tried to distance itself from the killings and alleged police corruption by laying the blame on Guerrero governor Ángel Aguirre, in an interview following the disappearances, human rights activist Father Alejandro Solalinde charged that the events in Iguala were not isolated events, and that Mexico was an "assassin state" that has become repressive and persecuted rights activists, youth and journalists, driving civil society to a breaking point.   The students, known widely as "normalistas," had reportedly traveled to Iguala to protest an event featuring the Iguala mayor"s wife, María de los Ángeles Piñeda, and solicit donations for supplies for their school.   According to VICE News reporter Melissa del Pozo, the school is a "Revolutionary-era rural teachers college known nationally for the ardently leftist politics that guide everything the students do and study."   The Iguala police force reportedly has a history of clashes with the leftist school. "The Ayotzinapa school has long been an ally of community police in the nearby town of Tixtla," Manuel Martinez, a spokesman for the students’ families, told AP. Martinez said that along with the teachers’ union and the students, the school "had formed a broad front to expel cartel extortionists from the area last year."   Caught in the cross-fire of the September attack was another bus mostly containing members of a soccer club from the capital city of Chilpancingo, which was traveling in a nearby area. According to reports, around the same time as the student attack, police or armed men also opened fire on that bus "apparently mistaking it for one carrying normalistas," killing three people.   Many of the relatives of those missing have descended on the Ayotzinapa school, which, in response to the murders and disappearances, has become a "hub of planning and organizing for protests as students and relatives have taken to blocking major highways and protesting in Chilpancingo," del Pozo reports.   http://news.vice.com/article/inside-the-mexican-college-where-43-students-vanished-after-a-violent-encounter-with-police   Mexico faces crucial test in the investigation of the deaths and enforced disappearances of students in Guerrero.   The investigation of the killings and enforced disappearances of students in Guerrero represent a crucial test for the willingness and the capacity of the Mexican State to deal with serious violations of human rights, a group of United Nations experts said today.   At the end of September, six people died and at least 17 others were injured after a series of events in the municipality of Iguala, following operations in which the local municipal police reportedly took part. Since then, 43 students from the Rural Normal School ‘Raúl Isidro Burgos’ Ayotzinapa remain disappeared.   “What happened in Guerrero is absolutely reprehensible and unacceptable. It is not tolerable that these kind of events happen, and even less so in a State respectful of the Rule of Law,” they added.   “For many years we have identified the impunity that prevails in México in cases of enforced disappearances, extrajudicial executions and torture. We have also highlighted the existing deficiencies in the search and identification of disappeared persons,” they stressed.   The experts urged the Mexican authorities to focus their efforts on finding the whereabouts of the disappeared persons to shed full light on these events. “We also ask them to punish the perpetrators and to protect the families of the victims and those who are investigating or supporting the efforts to determine the fate and whereabouts of the victims,” they said.   “We are extremely concerned about the murder of six people, including a 15 year old child and three students, one of which appeared with clear signs of torture, and the enforced disappearance of 43 students,” noted the experts, acknowledging the authorities’ response, by arresting 22 Iguala municipal police officers and eight others, whom they believe have participated in these acts.   “We receive information on a daily basis that makes this story more frightening,” the experts noted in relation to the discovery a few days ago of six mass graves in areas near the city of Iguala.   “To date, it has not been confirmed that the bodies found in the graves, which have been burnt, belong to the disappeared students, however according to preliminary information, the remains found reportedly have injuries caused by firearms projectiles and blunt objects,” they added.   The experts welcomed the arrival of the Argentinian Team of Forensic Anthropology which will be involved in the process of identification of the remains together with the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic and the Office of the Attorney General of the State of Guerrero.   http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=15155&LangID=E http://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/voices/activist-s-murder-adds-history-atrocities-mexico-s-guerrero-state http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=51836#.VfCdY32pVow Visit the related web page
	50th ratification triggers 90 day countdown towards entry-into-force of Arms Trade Treaty by Control Arms Campaign   25 Sep 2014   In just over one year, the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) has made history by achieving the 50 ratifications necessary to activate entry-into-force. At a High Level event at the United Nations today, eight states – Argentina, the Bahamas, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Czech Republic, Portugal, Saint Lucia, Senegal and Uruguay – deposited their instruments of ratification, bringing the overall total to 53.   Exceeding the 50th ratification has now triggered a 90 day countdown towards entry-into-force, which will happen on 24th December. At this point the ATT will become international law.   This achievement demonstrates the commitment toward the ATT, as well as the dynamic role played by civil society through the Control Arms Campaign.   To mark this accomplishment Control Arms has launched a new webpage: 50 celebrating 50. The webpage features photos and quotes from 50 individuals from across civil society, government and the UN whose input was important in the securing of the ATT.   Anna Macdonald, Director of the Control Arms Secretariat said, “The most important message today is that the imminent entry into force of the ATT presents the chance to change the arms trade. The chance to change the unconstrained flood of arms and ammunition into the world’s worst conflict zones. The chance to change the culture of ‘if we don’t sell them, someone else will’”.   Each of the ratifying States also spoke about the importance of the ATT entering into the force. Mexico, as host of the First Conference of States Parties, and Iceland, the first State to ratify also delivered speeches on the potential impact the Treaty can have.   “With wide acceptance and well planned implementation the Treaty has the real potential to reduce arms flows to conflict regions, terrorists, pirates and other criminals. The treaty will help prevent violations of human rights, humanitarian law by use of arms against civilians and prevent gender based violence. The Treaty will foster peace, security and development,” said Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson, Prime Minister of Iceland.   There were also new signatories to the ATT this week: Georgia, Namibia and Ukraine, bringing total signatures to 121.   * Thousands of people are killed, injured, raped, and forced to flee from their homes as a result of the unregulated global arms trade. The Control Arms campaign is a global civil society alliance that has advocated for a bulletproof Arms Trade Treaty for over a decade. Made up of over 100 charity, nonprofit, and nongovernmental groups throughout the world, Control Arms continues to strive for a world where deadly weapons are kept out of the wrong hands through a regulated arms trade.   http://controlarms.org/en/ http://50celebrating50.tumblr.com/ http://oxfamblogs.org/fp2p/how-did-a-global-campaign-bring-about-a-un-arms-trade-treaty/ Visit the related web page
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