From 16 to 18 October, Araceli Tecolapa of the Morelos and Pavón Human Rights Center from Guerrero State, participated in a delegation of Mexican human rights defenders that traveled to Canada. They gave their official testimony to the Human Rights Subcommittee in the Canadian Parliament together with representatives of other Mexican organizations, including Prodh, Periodistas de a Pie, and REMA.
The UN Special Rapporteur for indigenous people´s rights, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, undertook an oficial visit to Mexico from 8th til the 17th November with the objective of “examining the implementation of the reccommendations given by (her) predecessor, Special Rapporteur Rodolfo Stavenhagen in 2003, and to evaluate how Mexico has incorporated its international human rights committments in relation to indigenous peoples.
On 6 November the Human Rights Clinic from the University of Texas published a report titled, “”Control… over the entire state of Coahuila” together in collaboration with the Fray Juan de Larios Diocese Center for Human Rights (FJDL). The report collects testimonies that were given during different hearings in the United States, and highlights the serious human rights violations in the region.
PBI and other international organizations sent a shadow report about the situation of economic, social and cultural rights defenders for the review of the Mexican State by the UN Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights. This report highlights the extreme vulnerability faced by people who defend land and territory, as well as the types of aggressions that they face, which include threats, intimidation and criminalization.
In September, PBI provided international accompaniment to civil society organizations who defend the rights of migrants in in the state of Coahuila and who face risks due to their work. According to the report by the Citizens Council of the National Migration Institute (INM), in July 2017 the migrant population was subject to “violence and the excessive use of force by INM agents and other security forces in control and detention operatives” and crimes committed against migrants are met with impunity.
September marked the third anniversary of the mass disappearance of students in Iguala, Guerrero known as the “Ayotzinapa Case”. PBI observed the “Silent March” that commemorated the date, demanded justice, and offered solidarity with the victims and those affected by the recent earthquake.
After publishing an alert for human rights defenders in the State of Guerrero, the “All Rights for All” Network organized the first Civil Observation Mission in Chilapa and Chilpancingo, Guerrero where the “José Ma. Morelos y Pavón” Regional Center for the Defense of Human Rights and the Tlachinollan Human Rights Center carry out their work.
On 13 September the Paso del Norte Human Rights Center, an organization that is accompanied by PBI, provided information in a press release about the release of Mr. J. Valdez, one of the people that they accompanied in legal proceedings.
30 August marked the International Day of Victims of Forced Disappearance. According to oficial statistics, there are about thirty thousand disappeared people in Mexico, and this number could be much greater according to civil society organizations due to the lack of an adequate registry.
On 29 August, the Cerezo Committee Mexico, Urgent Action for the Defense of Human Rights, (ACUDDEH, AC), and the National Campaign against Forced Disappearance presented their 6th Report. The report documents 1442 violations committed against human rights defenders between June 2016 and May 2017, which means that according to these organizations, there were 50% more aggressions in this period than in the previous period (2015-2016 Report ).