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PhD researcher Salvador Leyva Morelos Zaragoza, from the Irish Centre for Human Rights, School of Law, University of Galway has published a post on EJIL:Talk!, the official blog of the European Journal of International Law. The post, entitled “A Third Category of Enforced Disappearance? The Committee on Enforced Disappearances’ Article 34 Resolution on Mexico”, examines the legal implications of the United Nations Committee on Enforced Disappearances’ landmark Article 34 Resolution on Mexico and its significance for the development of international law on enforced disappearances.

In the post, Leyva analyses one of the Resolution’s most significant legal developments: the Committee’s recognition of a third scenario of enforced disappearance involving disappearances committed solely by non-State actors as crimes against humanity. While acknowledging the importance of this interpretation in addressing disappearances committed by organised criminal groups, he argues that incorporating this approach into the framework of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance raises important questions about the relationship between international human rights law and international criminal law, particularly the distinction between State responsibility and individual criminal responsibility.

The publication forms part of Leyva's doctoral research on the jurisprudence of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights concerning enforced disappearances and State compliance with its judgments. His research is supervised by Dr. Edel Hughes and Dr. Róisín Mulgrew.