by Jennifer Johnson
on May 09, 2013
Migrants in transit through Mexico suffer from pervasive violence – threats, physical abuse, kidnapping, murder, extortion – at the hands of criminal groups or complicit and corrupt public officials. In suit, the brave defenders who provide humanitarian assistance and denounce abuses against migrants find themselves under attack, enduring harassment, death threats, violence, and smear campaigns.
In 2012, LAWGEF’s Executive Director Lisa Haugaard and I, Senior Associate for Mexico Policy Jenny Johnson, travelled to Saltillo, Coahuila in northern Mexico and Tenosique, Tabasco in southern Mexico as part of an international observation mission sponsored by Project Counselling Service to meet with migrant defenders from those regions. During a week of intense discussions, we heard testimony after testimony describing threats and extraordinarily difficult security conditions that jeopardized these defenders’ ability to carry out the important work necessary to protect this vulnerable population.
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by Ruth Isabel Robles
on April 30, 2013
As President Obama prepares to sit down for meetings with President Enrique Peña Nieto in Mexico and other fellow elected leaders from the Americas at the Summit of the Central American Integration System (SICA) in Costa Rica, over 145 civil society organizations from 10 countries throughout the Americas, including the Latin America Working Group, sent a letter to their respective presidents urging them to address their concerns regarding the dire human rights crisis in the region. Citing an increase in violence and human rights violations, the letter calls for a shift away from the failed militarized security policies which have exacerbated violence and human rights concerns in the region towards policies that address the root causes of violence.
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by Ruth Isabel Robles
on April 25, 2013
Just a week before President Obama’s first visit to Mexico since President Peña Nieto assumed office, 24 Members of Congress sent a letter on April 23 rd to newly appointed Secretary of State John Kerry with a clear request -- “make the defense of human rights a central part of the bilateral agenda with our neighbor.”
This letter, co-sponsored by Representative Moran (D-VA) and Representative Poe (R-TX), reflects bi-partisan concern about “the persistence of grave human rights violations in Mexico.” President Pena Nieto has expressed his commitment to human rights since assuming office on December 1, 2012, noting that one of Mexico’s greatest challenges is to make sure that “rights established on paper become reality.” These representatives underscore the scope and severity of challenges that lay ahead, noting “a five-fold increase in complaints—from 534 in 2007 to 2,723 in 2012—of human rights violations by Mexican soldiers and federal police, including torture, rape, extrajudicial executions, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, as well as other abuses.”
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by Emma Buckhout, LAWG Intern
on April 16, 2013
Since 2006, the deterioration of Mexico’s security situation due to the Mexican government’s “war on organized crime” has made international headlines. The violence has affected tens of thousands of citizens and exacerbated long-standing issues of corruption and institutional weakness. During the administration of former President Felipe Calderón, Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission (Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos, CNDH) saw a five-fold increase in complaints of human rights violations by Mexican soldiers and federal police, including torture, rape, extrajudicial execution, arbitrary detention, and enforced disappearance. At the same time, human rights defenders have found it increasingly difficult to carry out their work due to threats to their safety. Recently elected president Enrique Peña Nieto has firmly expressed his commitment to making sure that “rights established on paper become reality,” but his government has yet to make concrete changes that would reflect this commitment.
by Emma Buckhout, LAWG Intern
on March 28, 2013
Since 2006, the deterioration of Mexico’s security situation due to the Mexican government’s “war on organized crime” has made international headlines. The violence has affected tens of thousands of citizens and exacerbated long-standing issues of corruption and institutional weakness. During the administration of former President Felipe Calderón, Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission (Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos, CNDH) saw a five-fold increase in complaints of human rights violations by Mexican soldiers and federal police, including torture, rape, extrajudicial execution, arbitrary detention, and enforced disappearance. At the same time, human rights defenders have found it increasingly difficult to carry out their work due to threats to their safety. Recently elected president Enrique Peña Nieto has firmly expressed his commitment to making sure that “rights established on paper become reality,” but his government has yet to make concrete changes that would reflect this commitment.
During the "Human Rights Challenges in Mexico" event, co-hosted by the Latin America Working Group Education Fund, the Washington Office on Latin America, the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, and Just Associates, Stephanie Brewer (Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez Human Rights Center) discussed the use of torture as it relates to Mexico's criminal justice system. The following is a translation...
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