Mexico City, August 27 (teleSUR-RHC)-- A number of human rights organizers and defenders said Wednesday that forced disappearances are on the rise in Mexico, La Jornada newspaper reported.

“Today we must say that (forced) disappearance occurs widely. In the past eight years we have documented more than 26,000 cases,” said Mario Patron of the Miguel Agustin Pro Human Rights Center.

The human rights defenders made the comments during an event held in front of the office of the federal attorney general (PGR). They were joined by relatives of the 43 forcibly disappeared students from the Ayotzinapa teachers training college.

Santiago Corcuera, from the U.N. Committee Against Forced Disappearances, said that on a personal level he believes the human rights situation in Mexico is even worse than the period known as the “Dirty War”, between 1968 and the late 1970s during which hundreds of activists and opposition political leaders were disappeared. 

Corcuera says forced disappearances now occur in a generalized way and not solely out of political motives. He also said he felt that rather than seeing progress, the country had taken step backwards.
  
The Mexican state has been routinely criticized for its human rights record and its handling of forced disappearances.

In February, a U.N. panel called on the Mexican government to adhere to the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, under which all signatory parties are required to fully investigate enforced disappearances and bring all those responsible to justice.