Psychosocial impacts of human rights defense work in women defenders
Author: Aluna Acompañamiento Psicosocial
Author: Aluna Acompañamiento Psicosocial
On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders (henceforth, the Declaration), Peace Brigades International (PBI) invited 13 human rights defenders who are accompanied by the 7 PBI projects on a tour that would take them through 10 European countries.
The Global Agreement between the European Union and Mexico includes within the political pillar, a high level human rights dialogue. This mechanisms allows both parts to tackle human rights issues that they are affected by and to guide the priorities in the cooperation and technical assistance agreements. The dialogue between Mexico and the EU is annual and takes place after a prior seminar where Mexcian and European human rights organisations present the human rights situation and make recommendations. This year the central topic was human rights defenders, which cooincid
During three days, 40 human rights defenders from the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia came together in Brussels to exchange experiences and knowledge about holistic protection. This meeting allowed us to analyse the global tendencies that impact our risk as well as identify our common needs as a collective of human rights defenders. The sessions allowed us to construct a common narrative and key messages and recommendations to political actors in the European Union and it´s member states.
From the 9th til 13th April, a delegation of lawyers from Spain visited the North of Mexico and Mexico City in order to hear first-hand accounts and to draw attention to the situation that lawyers who defend human rights find themselves in, they also wished to understand the state of implementation of the general laws of torture and forced disappearance as well as the strategies that the organisations and defenders use against the Internal Security Law.
On July 26th the Space for Civil Society Organizations for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists (Espacio_OSC), which is accompanied by PBI, published their third report. The event was attended by members of Mexican Civil society, international organizations, members of the Diplomatic Corp, the media, the academic community and government authorities.
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.
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.
Civil Society Organizations in Chihauhua salute the passage of an integral reform of the Chihuhua State Prosecutor’s Office by the State Congress, which will include the creation of a Special Prosecutor for the Investigation of Human Rights Violations in the state.