Ayotzinapa Protest & OAS IACHR Hearings in Washington DC on March 20, 2015

On Friday March 20, 2015, a group of demonstrators gathered outside of the Organization of American States building to protest as the Mexican delegation entered for a day of Inter-American Commission on Human Rights hearings. The protestors stood in solidarity with the 43 students from the Ayotzinapa teachers’ college who were disappeared last September. As the Mexican government representatives entered the OAS building, protestors chanted “Gobierno fascista que mata normalistas” (“Fascist government that kills normalista students”) and “asesinos” (“assassins”). I attended the protest as well as three of the IACHR hearings on issues of General Human Rights Situation in the State of Guerrero, Mexico, Reports of Acts of Forced Disappearance and Impunity in Mexico and Reports of Sexual Torture of Women in Mexico. Here are some photographs I took throughout the day. For higher resolution, click on the images.

Session 44 of the IACHR hearings about Reports of Acts of Forced Disappearance and Impunity in México included a panel of representatives for the State of Mexico and a panel of petitioners from civil society including Fundar, Centro de Análisis e Investigación, Centro de Derechos Humanos Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez (Centro Prodh), Instituto Mexicano de Derechos Humanos y Democracia, Centro de Derechos Humanos de la Montaña–Tlachinollan, Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Francisco de Vitoria, Scalabrinianas Misión para Migrantes y Refugiados, Ciudadanos en Apoyo a los Derechos Humanos, Centro Diocesano para los Derechos Humanos Fray Juan de Larios, Centro de Derechos Humanos de las Mujeres, Comisión Mexicana de Defensa y Promoción de los Derechos Humanos, Centro de Derechos Humanos Victoria Diez, Centro de Derechos Humanos Paso del Norte, Fundación para la Justicia y el Estado Democrático de Derecho, Centro Regional de Defensa de Derechos Humanos José Ma. Morelos y Pavón, Asociadas por lo Justo (JASS), Human Rights Watch, Due Process of Law Foundation (DPLF), Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL), Organización Mundial Contra la Tortura (OMCT) and Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights (RFKHR). The Petitioners Panel: