Chihuahua City, Mexico – On November 6, Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project (PBI Mexico) facilitated a meeting between five European embassies in Mexico and representatives from civil society organizations from the states of Chihuahua and Coahuila. The objective of the meeting was to publicize the risk situation that HRDs continue to face and the state of human rights in the north of Mexico.

The dialogue took place to mark the first anniversary of the establishment of PBI Mexico's office in Chihuahua City, which is dedicated to the protection of HRDs in the states of Chihuahua and Coahuila through international accompaniment.

In the meeting, diplomats from Germany, Ireland, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland took part in a direct dialogue with representatives from civil society about the situation of continuous risk and threats faced by HRDs that protect the rights of indigenous peoples, migrants, victims of gender violence, victims of torture and family members of the disappeared. During the meeting, a special interest was taken in the situation of insecurity faced by defenders in the Sierra Tarahumara of Chihuahua. Many of these defenders have been forced to leave their work in the Sierra due to threats, harassment and attacks.

PBI Mexico expressed concern on the risk situation faced by HRDs in Chihuahua and Coahuila and reminded participants that their presence in the zone is due to the large number of accompaniment petitions received from these two states. After carrying out an exploratory mission in 2012, PBI Mexico established that Chihuahua and Coahuila are two of the states where HRDs face a high level of risk, a conclusion supported by a parallel report published by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Mexico.

The dialogue was attended by five members of the diplomatic corps: Aaron Mir Haschemi, First Secretary for Political Issues and Protocol for the German Embassy, David Costello, First Secretary for Economic, Political and Commercial Issues for the Irish Embassy; Paolo Rosano, Political Councilor for the Royal Norwegian Embassy; Maria Cramer, First Secretary from the Swedish Embassy; and Daniel Zulauf, First Secretary from the Swiss Embassy.

Representatives from civil society organizations accompanied by PBI also attended: The Paso del Norte Human Rights Center (Ciudad Juárez), the Fray Juan de Larios Human Rights Center (Saltillo) and the Saltillo Migrant Shelter (Saltillo). Other recognized local organizations also attended, including the Women's Human Rights Center (Chihuahua), Barzon Chihuahua, Justice for Our Daughters (Chihuahua), the Sierra Madre Alliance (Chihuahua), Community Technical Consultancy (Chihuahua), the Solidarity and Human Rights Defense Commission (Chihuahua) and Women's Table Network (Ciudad Juárez).

Although they were unable to attend, PBI Mexico also accompanies the Juan Gerardi Human Rights Center (Torreón, Coahuila) and the Pasta de Conchos Family Organization (Carboniferous Region, Coahuila).

This visit of the diplomatic corps and the presence of embassies from a number of member states of the European Union that are responsible for monitoring the human rights situation in the north of Mexico took place in follow up to meetings held between members of the diplomatic corps and HRDs in October 2013 during the inauguration of PBI Mexico's new office in the region.