Mexico City- In the context of the Second Government Report of the Governor of Oaxaca, which was presented last Thursday November 15th, PBI has interviewed the organisations which we accompany in that state, in order to produce a briefing.
The briefing evaluates four of the new institutions, created in the first two years of Gabino Cué's government, which have the potential to help improve the human rights situation in the state:
- The Special Prosecutor's Office for Investigations into Crimes of Social Transcendence (Fiscalía de Investigaciones en Delitos de Trascendencia Social)
- The Human Rights Ombudsman’s Office of the State of Oaxaca (La Defensoría de los Derechos Humanos del Pueblo de Oaxaca)
- The Constitutional Court (Sala de lo Constitucional)
- The Coordination for the Attention to Human Rights (Coordinación para la Atención de los Derechos Humanos)>
The briefing explains the mandate of each of these entities, details the obstacles which are currently impeding their effectiveness, and makes recommendations regarding how they might be strengthened. It represents a starting point for a deeper reflection on the protection of human rights defenders, which should be coordinated together with the civil society of Oaxaca.
We urge Mexican and Oaxacan authorities, diplomatic corps in Mexico and international organizations and NGOs, to speak with Oaxacan civil society representatives in order to understand their perspective of the broader human rights agenda in the state after two years of its current government, and to ask the Oaxacan government how it hopes to advance in that agenda and strengthen the institutions analysed in the briefing.
For more information, please contact Ben Leather, Advocacy Coordinator in Mexico (pbidf(at)pbi-mexico.org), or Oaxaca Team (oaxaca(at)pbi-mexico.org).
Download the briefing (pdf).