WUNRN
ISHR – International Service for Human Rights
http://www.ishr.ch/news/mexico-strengthen-mechanism-protect-women-human-rights-defenders
MEXICO – CALL TO STRENGTHEN ITS MECHANISM TO PROTECT WOMEN HUMAN
RIGHTS DEFENDERS
Este artículo también existe en español aquí.
March 10, 2015 - (Geneva) - Mexico should
strengthen its Mechanism for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders to better
respond to the situation and protection of women human rights defenders facing
worsening violence in the country, ISHR said today.
The call came following an ISHR
co-sponsored Human Rights Council side-event in Geneva on the context
of violence in Mexico and its impact on women human rights defenders.
The event was addressed by Michel Forst, UN
Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders, and three women human rights
defenders from Mexico: Norma Messino and Yésica Sánchez, as well as Olga Guzmán
from the Mexican Comission for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights (CMDPDH).
The audience heard how the context of a deteriorating human rights situation -
alongside the ongoing ‘War on Drugs’ and combined with lack of accountability
and impunity for the killings of activists - have conspired to exacerbate the
risks for women defenders in the country.
The human rights impact of ‘the war on drugs’
Ms Guzmán shared that since 2006 and
the launch of an open confrontation strategy against organised crime, human
rights defenders (HRDs) have become some of the most vulnerable to crimes
committed by multiple State and non-State actors in the context of ‘the war on
drugs’. Since then, Mexico has accumulated alarming numbers of dead, forcibly
disappeared and displaced persons as a result of the widespread violence,
pervasive corruption and impunity.
‘The Ayotzinapa case, which is one of the
worst tragedies that has been seen in the country, unfortunately is not an
isolated incident. In contrast, it reflects a broader pattern of gross and
systematic human rights abuses committed with impunity,’ Ms Guzmán
said.
Civil society representatives in the
audience commented that they had noticed that during the Council’s High Level
Segment and after the recent reviews of Mexico by the UN Committee on Enforced
and Involuntary Disappearance and the UN Committee against Torture, the Mexican
State refrained from using the term ‘widespread violence’ to describe the
country’s ongoing situation and has been appealing to the term ‘isolated
events’ which might be solved by the creation of more institutions like the
Mechanism for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists.
Women defenders: additional and particular
risks
The panel discussed how women human rights
defenders are often mothers, sisters, wives and daughters of victims of
enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention and torture; women who
defend their lands against the imposition of transnational corporations; women
who raise their voice to be freed from violence, who fight for the recognition
of sexual and reproductive rights, or who call for justice and accountability.
Clips were shown from the campaign 'Make them visible',
profiling the brave women who defend human rights in Mexico and face several
challenges and risks when doing their work. The films demonstrated how many
women defenders there work in rural or marginalised communities, which makes it
harder for them to be seen and heard.
Yésica Sánchez
from Oaxaca stressed the lack of response from the authorities to the killings
of women defenders, and the impunity which allows for aggressions by State
actors to occur on a daily basis.
‘We do not have support from the Protection
Mechanism at all, whilst a catalogue of military police, municipal police and
state police have been identified as the perpetrators of the aggressions. A
State that lets this happen cannot be called a democratic state,’ said
Ms Sánchez.
Norma Mesino
from Guerrero pointed out that the crisis in Mexico is structural and has
impact in all levels of society. 'To be a social activist in Mexico represents
a huge risk; the government leaves us defenceless,’ said Ms Mesino.
She spoke of how her request for protection
from the Mechanism was futile and, with no effective response at the national
level, felt forced to request help at the Inter-American Commission for Human
Rights, which has now dictated precautionary measures for both her and ten
members of her family.
The support of the UN Special Rapporteur
During his intervention, the UN Special
Rapporteur, Michel Forst, highlighted that a specific section in his
next report will be dedicated to women defenders because of the
specific risks they face as a reprisal for their work; their families are
targeted, exposing women activists to even greater pressure than men often
face. He stressed that his mandate aims to ensure a gender perspective in its
work and that last year he sent at least five communications to the Mexican
government regarding women human rights defenders. He welcomed the government’s
invitation for an in situ visit in 2016 and expressed that one of its
main focuses will be to look more deeply at the situation of women human rights
defenders.
ISHR calls for Protection Law to be fully
implemented by capable and committed staff
The visit to Geneva of the Mexican defenders
came as their government remained without both a permanent Under-Secretary for
Human Rights and an Executive Coordinator for the Mechanism for the Protection
of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists. Their recent resignations mark the
latest in a long line of staff instability in key posts related to the
protection of defenders, with many authorities being accused of lacking the
assets required to lead such key posts and others themselves denouncing the
lack of resources and political support required to operate.
Last week Edgar Cortez, civil society
representative oo the Mechanism’s governing body published a salient article
in which he noted that the advances made in the Mechanism’s implementation in
2014 have been undermined by ongoing problems with risk analysis methodology,
the adequacy of the measures authorised, an insensitive attention to defenders,
poor and poorly treated staff, and a lack of political will to allow the
Mechanism to deal with the root causes of threats to defenders. Women human
rights defenders and collectives often suffered disproportionately, he
noted.
‘The Mexican government has yet to
demonstrate that it is truly committed to overcoming these ongoing obstacles to
implementation of the Law for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and
Journalists,’ said ISHR’s Advocacy and Communications Manager, Ben Leather.
‘We call upon President Peña Nieto to ensure that the posts of Under-Secretary
and National Coordinator are filled with people with proven human rights
experience, who must then be given the political backing necessary to finally
prioritise the Mechanism’s implementation and fulfil Mexico’s obligation to
protect human rights defenders’.
Peace Brigades International and the
Washington Office on Latin America recently published a dossier documenting failings in the Mechanism’s
implementation. ISHR, meanwhile, asked the Special Rapporteur in the Human
Rights Council this week what
he would do to ensure that States with human rights defender laws and policies
- such as Mexico - do more to ensure their effective implementation.