Photo: Carmen López Lugo was a member of the Chol indigenous community of Tila. On the night of January 12, 2024, Carmen was murdered by members of organized crime with weapons for the exclusive use of the army.
The Global Witness “Roots of Resistance: Documenting the global struggles of defenders protecting land and environmental rights” report released this week notes:
“Reprisals continued in Mexico, where we documented 19 cases in 2024 – 18 killings and one disappearance.
(Between 2012 and 2024, the total is 222 defenders n Mexico.)
According to data gathered by Mexican organisation Centro Mexicano de Derecho Ambiental (CEMDA), 2024 was the second most lethal year of the past decade. It reported that defenders were also subjected to intimidation, harassment, stigmatisation, defamation – and the growing problem of criminalisation.
Nine killings occurred in the border region of Chiapas. Territorial disputes between armed groups and organised crime syndicates are reported to have increased since 2021, as they seek to control the area’s rich natural resources.
Defenders protecting access to land have been caught in the struggle after challenging the attempts of illegal groups to control access to these resources. In 2024, seven family members were massacred after denouncing the presence of organised crime and challenging attempts to control mining operations in the region.”
The report further notes: “In total, 10% of all murdered (13) or disappeared (one) defenders in 2024 were women – five of them from Mexico.”
This chart also suggests that the defenders killed in Mexico in 2024 included 6 relatives of persons targeted for repression, 5 small-scale farmers, 3 Indigenous peoples, and 5 other.
This chart also suggests that of the 19 defenders killed in Mexico, in 6 cases the perpetrators were hit men, 5 were organized crime/mafias, 3 were private military actors, and 5 were other.
Global Witness also notes that globally the deadliest sectors are:
And the report highlights: “Many of the countries with the highest numbers of documented killings and disappearances – including Colombia, Brazil, Mexico and Honduras – now have state mechanisms to protect defenders from the worst reprisals. But while they are a safeguard for many, these measures are far from infallible.”
In March 2024, Amnesty International and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) documented that eight journalists have been killed while enrolled in the Protection Mechanism over the last seven years.
Then in March 2025, Reporters without Borders noted: “Kristian Zavala’s murder is an alarming sign of the challenges facing journalist protection mechanisms in Mexico. He is the second journalist killed while under state protection in 2025.”
For more on this, please see MEXICO’S MECHANISM TO PROTECT HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS AND JOURNALISTS: Progress and Continued Challenges (Peace Brigades International and WOLA, May 2016).
CEMDA report
Earlier this year, the Mexican Center for Environmental Law (CEMDA) reported that 25 environmental and territorial defenders lost their lives in Mexico in 2024 due to the work they carried out.
CEMDA further specifies in their 11th Report on the situation of environmental human rights defenders and communities in Mexico that 21 defenders were murdered and four were killed by extrajudicial execution, that is, with the participation of agents of the state security forces.
CEMDA documents 94 aggression events in which the State was the main aggressor in 62 of the events, private companies in 25 events, and organized crime in 17 events. In the 62 events involving State agents, the federal government was present in 18; some type of police force in 13; prosecutors’ offices in another 13; state governments in 9; the National Guard in 3; municipal governments in 2; the Secretariat of the Navy in 2; the Ministry of National Defense in 1; and other authorities in 1.
CEMDA further establishes that the sectors that were the deadliest for environmental human rights defenders in 2024 were mining (11 fatalities), forestry (5), urban (1), pollutants (1), agriculture (3), roads (1) and others (3).
Mexican HRDs visit Ottawa
Next week, two human rights defenders from Mexico will be in Ottawa to meet with Government of Canada officials, Members of Parliament, and social movement and civil society allies, to raise awareness of the situation of human rights defenders and journalists in Mexico and find ways to support them.
Elizabeth Guadalupe Mosqueda Rivera is from the Consortium for Parliamentary Dialogue and Equity Oaxaca (Consorcio Oaxaca) and Héctor Hugo Arreola Galván is from the Zeferino Ladrillero Human Rights Center (CDHZL).
Both Hugo and Elizabeth are members of the Civil Society Space of Organizations for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists (Espacio OSC).
Photo: Elizabeth Guadalupe Mosqueda Rivera and Héctor Hugo Arreola Galván.
Canada’s position
The Government of Canada expressed concern about the Protection Mechanism during the United Nations (UN) Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Mexico and made recommendations for its strengthening.
At the UN UPR session held on January 24, 2024, Canada recommended that Mexico: “Strengthen, from an intersectional and gender perspective, the federal Protection Mechanism for Human Rights Defenders and Journalists, specifically in the areas of prevention, protection, investigation, and reparation.”
Prior to this session, Canada had also asked Mexico: “How will the new General law to respect, protect, guarantee, and promote the rights of human rights defenders and journalists address key challenges under the current mechanism, including in achieving results, improving federal-state-municipal cooperation, and promoting prevention of violence against human rights defenders and journalists?”
Stay tuned for updates about this visit.
