PBI-Mexico meets with Cerezo Committee who share their analysis of the situation for human rights defenders in Mexico

On February 3, PBI-Mexico posted:

“From PBI we want to thank the willingness of the Cerezo Committee to share spaces with us, its analysis of the situation of #human rights in the country as well as its commitment to improving the situation of #human rights defenders in #Mexico.”

Two weeks ago, Once Noticias reported:

“The Cerezo Committee, an organization in defense of human rights, reported that during 2022, 22 defenders were killed, of which 18 were men and four were women.

In eight cases, it is known that the victims were human rights defenders who belonged to an indigenous people, in twelve cases they were mestizo, one case was of an Afro-descendant person and in one case it was not possible to determine the belonging of the victim.

The organization points out that these killings were carried out for political reasons, that is, as a form of punishment for the activity they carried out, in addition to the fact that the perpetrators were agents of the State.

In its most recent report entitled “Defending human rights in Mexico: between omission and simulation”, the Cerezo Committee warns that at the state and municipal level the strategy of political repression prevails, in addition to the existence of impunity in these cases.

On 19 January, the organization delivered the report to Morris Tidball-Binz, UN Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions.

According to information provided to Once Noticias by Francisco Cerezo, the UN official attended an academic activity in Mexico City and it was during that act when they delivered the document. Morris Tidball-Binz remains in Mexico and his visit is for academic reasons.”

That article can be read at En 2022 fueron asesinadas 22 personas defensoras de derechos humanos: Comité Cerezo.

For more, please also see: 22 Human Rights Defenders Extrajudicially Executed in 2022 (Cerezo Committee report, January 10, 2023).

PBI-Mexico started accompanying the Cerezo Committee in 2002.