On 13 July 2017, the first roundtable discussions with regard to the Contingency Plan took place at the Chihuahua State Governor´s Office. The Plan is part of the early warning system for human rights defenders and journalists.

The event was attended by civil society organizations, as well as federal, state and municipal authorities, representatives of the international community including the UN Office in Mexico of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and representatives of PBI, who attended at the petition of civil society. All of these entities will be monitoring the implementation of the Plan.

The Plan establishes 5 strategic themes, including Femicide, the Environment, the Situation in the Sierra Tarahumara, Violations to Freedom of Expression and Transversal Strategies for Risk Reduction.

In the first roundtable discussions of the Contingency Plan, 53 actions were proposed that respond to these topics, involving 26 governmental entities on the state level and 24 on the federal level. These entities have the duty to respond to people at-risks, with the inclusion and participation of civil society and journalists that advocated for this early warning system.

A calendar was created for the possible implementation of each action, keeping in mind the possible obstacles that could appear and the people who are responsible for each action.

Participants decided that roundtable discussions will take place every three months for a year, and the next one will take place in October 2017. Members of civil society previously met with the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in order to present the Plan and ask for support for its monitoring.

English