Accompaniment

2018 has been a challenging year for human rights across the world.  Many of those defending human rights have been threatened, attacked and undermined, despite the celebration of 20 years of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders.  PBI remains committed to protecting the space in which human rights defenders continue their arduous work in steadfast conviction that only when this protection is truly guaranteed will peaceful and democratic societies advance across the world. 

For PBI, as for many other civil society organisations, 2017 posed significant challenges. The six years of President Enrique Peña Nieto’s administration have been characterised by a continuation of the widely-questioned security policies initiated during the presidency of his predecessor Felipe Calderón, and by a marked reduction in the political space available to Mexican and international civil society organisations.

Read about PBI´s work in Mexico in 2017, taken from PBI´s Annual Review 2017, with information on our work in Colombia, Honduras, Guatemala, Indonesia, Kenya and Nepal as well as updates on the activities in our country groups, an overview of how we spend our funds, where our 399 volunteers come from and testimonies from those we accompany throughout the world.

Experts in forensic anthropology from the Federal Prosecutor’s Office (PGR) carried out a new search for evidence in Atoyac, specifically at the former site of the 27^th Infantry Battalion. Following Tita Radilla’s request, PBI accompanied AFADEM during this exercise.

In September, PBI provided international accompaniment to civil society organizations who defend the rights of migrants in in the state of Coahuila and who face risks due to their work. According to the report by the Citizens Council of the National Migration Institute (INM), in July 2017 the migrant population was subject to “violence and the excessive use of force by INM agents and other security forces in control and detention operatives” and crimes committed against migrants are met with impunity.

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.

In April, PBI travelled to Saltillo and Torreon, Coahuila in order to meet with members of the Juan Gerardi Human Rights Center, an organization that has received PBI accompaniment since 2013. On 26 April the organization celebrated 18 years of work promoting a human rights culture through the Jesús Torres Migrant Day Center and the collective of relatives United Forces for our Disappeared in Coahuila – Mexico (FUUNDEC-M).

On 17 March, the Saltillo Migrant House participated in a thematic hearing requested by several human rights organizations entitled “Mexico: Applicants for Asylum and Refugee Status” convened by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in Washington DC. During this hearing, representatives of Mexican civil society and the Federal Government discussed the current human rights situation of people who requested asylum and refugee status in the country.

Formal PBI accompaniment of Consortium for Parliamentary Dialogue and Oaxacan Equality (Consorcio Oaxaca) began just over one year ago. This organization works to promote respect for and the exercise of the human rights of women and gender equality.