(the following is an extract of a Joint Briefing by PBI-Mexico and Tlachinollan Human Rights Centre which has been circulated with the diplomatic corps)
According to the Mesoamerican Women Human Rights Defenders Initiative (Iniciativa Mesoamericana de Mujeres Defensoras de Derechos Humanos)1
PBI Mexico express deep concern about the serious events that occurred last month in the community of San Mateo del Mar, Oaxaca.
Civil society organizations, government institutions and international community spoke out against threats received by Consorcio Oaxaca and claimed immediate actions by Mexican Government to protect its staff.
Last Thursday, July 2, PBI organized a virtual seminar on the defense of the rights of migrants in the time of COVID-19 in collaboration with Madrid’s University Carlos III, and for which we had the presence of the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights of Migrants from the United Nations, Professor Felipe González Morales.
During this past month we participated in and carried out various activities as part of our current remote accompaniment of organizations and human rights defenders in Mexico. Here, we highlight some of them:
PBI Mexico continues to provide remote accompaniment to human rights defenders, doing permanent monitoring and analysis, and informing the international community and relevant authorities about the situation of human rights defenders in Mexico.
On May 11, a presidential agreement was published in the Official Gazette of the Federation “by which the permanent Armed Forces are available to carry out public security tasks in an extraordinary, regulated, supervised, subordinate and complementary manner.” Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, this agreement consolidates the role of the Army practically until the end of the current government’s
In the state of the health emergency caused by Covid-19, human rights defenders, journalists and CSOs urge the Mexican Government and its institutions to generate measures in order to guarantee the right to defend human rights, in accordance with national and international recommendations.
Last 27th April was the 10th anniversary of the deaths of Bety Cariño and Jyri Jaakkola1, two human rights defenders and activists murdered during the Humanitarian Caravan and Human Rights Observation Mission near the indigenous community of San Juan Copala in the State of Oaxaca. Their families and civil society organizations are still calling for justice 10 years after the tragic events.