PBI Mexico's Annual Report 2016 brings details of the project's work with human rights defenders in Mexico, as well as our activities at the international level.

You can download it at: bit.ly/PBI2015AR

26 June was the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, which was created to commemorate the implementation of the UN Convention against torture and other cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment. It is important to remember that in Mexico, at the federal level, the General Law to Prevent, Investigate and Sanction Torture and Other Cruel, Inhumane or Degrading treatment, was approved in the recent legislative period and came into effect on 26 June.

19 June marked the one year anniversary of the “Oaxaca Operation,” carried out by the State and Federal Police in Nochixtlan and four other municipalities. According to different organizations, a series of violent events occurred that led to eight deaths and hundreds of injuries, in addition to psychological damage to dozens of civilians, including children.

According to an investigation by Citizen Lab, human rights defenders, high profile journalists and anti-corruption activists in Mexico may have been affected by “Pegasus”, a software which infiltrates mobile devices in order to monitor the movements of someone through their cell phone.

On 15 and 16 June the 4^th annual Statewide Meeting of Women Activists and Human Rights Defenders took place in Oaxaca. The event was organized by Consorcio Oaxaca, an organization that receives PBI accompaniment and attended by 70 human rights defenders from different regions of the state of Oaxaca and Natalia Barreto – an Advisor for Human Rights Cooperation and Culture of the European Union Delegation in Mexico.

On 10 June Abel Barrera from the Tlachinollan Human Rights Center met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. During the meeting Mr. Barrera expressed concern about the impunity in the case of the disappearance of 43 students in Ayotzinapa.

On 9 June, the Governor of the State of Chihuahua, Javier Corral, and the Under Secretary of Human Rights from the Secretary of the Interior, Roberto Campa Cifrian, signed the Contingency Plan which was created from the early warning system for the protection of human rights defenders and journalists in Chihuahua.

On May 30, 31 and June 1, in Mexico City, the Latin American Meeting “Strategies of Protection for the defence of territory” was held. With the support of ProtectDefenders.eu, this event was organised by a group of international, regional and local organisations that support processes for the protection of human rights defenders, especially those who work in the defence of land and territory.

Civil Society Organizations in Chihauhua salute the passage of an integral reform of the Chihuhua State Prosecutor’s Office by the State Congress, which will include the creation of a Special Prosecutor for the Investigation of Human Rights Violations in the state.

Between 12 and 22 May, the Caravan in Search of the Disappeared Alive – made up of collectives from 25 cities and 12 states in Mexico and the US — took place in the municipalities of Torreon, Saltillo, Monclova, Allende and Piedras Negras, Coahuila.