Accompaniment

Sahara is from the USA and recently volunteered with PBI in August 2022. There, they provided protective accompaniment to three organisations in Chihuahua;  Centro de Derechos Humanos Paso del Norte A.C. (CDHPdN A.C.), Consultoría Técnica Comunitaria A.C (CONTECA.C.) and Alianza Sierra Madre A.C. (ASMAC).

On August 9, the International Day of Indigenous Peoples was commemorated under the theme “COVID-19 and the resilience of indigenous peoples”, recognizing the effort of indigenous communities to seek their own solutions to the pandemic through knowledge and traditional practices1.

“We oppose development that reduces our forests, that destroys our lands” (…) With the pandemic we will have to live the rest of our lives. “

Jorge Sibas, leader of the Brörán people and Costa Rican defender.

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.

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.

Located in the south of Mexico, the Isthmus of Tehuántepec crosses both Oaxaca and Veracruz. The Pacific and Atlantic Oceans are divided by only around 200km, making this Mexico’s narrowest point. Development projects have been operating in the area since the early 20th century, and PBI has accompanied human rights defenders protecting land and territory – and facing threats for their opposition to such projects – since 2011.

“The isthmus, commercial route for the world”