Parents of Ayotzinapa 43 Take Mexico to Human Rights Tribunal

On Thursday, the parents of the 43 missing students from the Ayotzinapa teachers' college announced that they would take the Mexican attorney general's office to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on March 17, given the continued lack of progress in the investigation into the disappearance of their children over 2 years ago.

RELATED: Parents of Ayotzinapa 43 Pledge to 'Toughen up Their Actions'

In a statement released on Wednesday afternoon, the Committee of Parents of the 43 said that they were canceling a scheduled meeting with the attorney general's office on Thursday and instead were taking their case to the regional international human rights body.

"Considering that the attorney general's office has offered no guarantees to respond to the proposals we made at the meeting last February 9, the IACHR is the appropriate forum before which the Mexican state has to account for the meager progress in the investigation and the search for our children," said the statement.

After their last meeting with the government on Feb. 9, the parents had promised to "toughen up our actions" if there was no progress in the case by March 9.

The 43 students — from the largely Indigenous teachers' college renowned for its activism — were on their way to a protest in Mexico City when they were pulled over by local police on Sept. 26, 2014. They have been missing ever since.

In the two years since the disappearance the parents, as well as several independent investigations have uncovered evidence which not only challenges the official government claim that the students were murdered by a local drug gang, but also points to higher level state involvement in the disappearance.

Just last week the Mexican-based representative to the U.N. High Commission on Human Rights slammed the attorney general's inquiry into problems with the investigation, calling it a whitewash and pointing to "serious violations" by various officials.

In their statement the parents said that they will now take the demands they had planned to present at Thursday's meeting to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on March 17 in Washington, D.C.

The statement was also signed by the students' committee of the Ayotzinapa teachers' college.