Download the 2010 Amnesty Report on Human Rights Defenders in Mexico

The Mexican authorities are failing in their duty to protect human rights defenders from killings and life-threatening harassment and attacks, Amnesty International warned in a new report presented in the Ciudad de Mexico, on 21 January 2010.

“Defending human rights in Mexico is life-threatening and the government is not doing enough to tackle the problem,” said Nancy Tapias-Torrado, researcher on human rights defenders at Amnesty International. “When one human rights defender is attacked, threatened or killed, it sends a dangerous message to many others and denies hope to all those on whose behalf the defender is working”. “The Mexican government must urgently develop an effective and comprehensive programme of protection for human rights defenders”, said Nancy Tapias-Torrado.

The report “Standing up for justice and dignity: Human Rights defenders in Mexico” describes more than 15 cases of defenders who have suffered killings, attacks, harassment, threats and imprisonment on fabricated charges between 2007 and 2009 to prevent them from doing their work.