PBI-Mexico accompanies Espacio OSC on advocacy tour in Canada, notes Protection Mechanism excludes union activists
Héctor Hugo Arreola Galván and Elizabeth Guadalupe Mosqueda Rivera from the Civil Society Space of Organizations (Espacio OSC) in Mexico recently concluded their visit to Ottawa where they highlighted proposals to improve the Protection Mechanism for Human Rights Defenders and Journalists.
They were accompanied by Manuel Jabonero Prieto, the advocacy coordinator for the Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project, and Brent Patterson, the coordinator of Peace Brigades International-Canada.
At meetings with Members of Parliament from all five parliamentary parties, officials at Global Affairs Canada, and the Office of the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE), as well as with civil society allies, the delegation raised the concern of the threats faced by union activists in Mexico.
Workers and union leaders face threats
Mexican workers, most notably small-scale farmers, and union organizers continue to face a dangerous situation of threats, retaliations and killings.
Between 2012 and 2024, at least 23 small-scale farmers were killed in Mexico.
In July 2025, taxi union leader Mario N was killed in Cancun; in November 2024, workers attempting to union a Canadian-owned mine received death threats Zacatecas State leading to the independent Los Mineros union to request protection for its workers; in January 2021, labour lawyer Susana Terrazas Prieto issued a public plea to the Mexican President after receiving death threats for her efforts to organize an independent union at a U.S.-owned auto parts factory in Matamoros in the state of Tamaulipas; in May 2019, union leader Gilberto Muñoz Mosqueda was assassinated in the city of Salamanca, Guanajuato; and in June 2016, two people affiliated with National Coordinator of Education Workers (CNTE) were killed in Nochixtlan, Oaxaca.
The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) has also highlighted: “On 9 February 2024, the facilities of the daily newspaper’s union, Sindicato Independiente de los Trabajadores de La Jornada (SITRAJOR), in Mexico were raided and vandalised by the newspaper’s own management.”
Union activists are human rights defenders
The Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders has highlighted: “Leaders of trades unions undertake numerous tasks [and] when they are working specifically to promote or protect the human rights of workers they can be described as human rights defenders.”
Global Affairs Canada has also recognized workers as human rights defenders, the Investor Alliance for human rights has included labor union leaders in their definition, and the European Network of National Human Rights Institutions (ENNHRI) has included trade unions in their description of who can be a human rights defender.
Exclusion from Protection Mechanism
The Mexican federal government and states operate protection mechanisms for journalists and human rights defenders. These mechanisms provide a range of protections including camera systems, panic buttons, police protection, and relocation assistance for human rights defenders and journalists under threat.
Mosqueda and Arreola noted: “The Protection Mechanism does not recognize trade unionists as human rights defenders. Espacio OSC recognizes independent trade unionists as human rights defenders as well as the challenges and attacks they face because of their work.”
PBI-Canada and PBI-Mexico continue to accompany Espacio OSC in their work to strengthen the Protection Mechanism.
Further reading:
Photo-journal of PBI-Mexico accompanied Espacio OSC advocacy tour in Canada on Protection Mechanism and The Protection Mechanism as a tool to address threats and the worsening situation for independent trade union activists in Mexico.
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