Photo: Mixteca land defender Irma Galindo Barrios went missing on October 27, 2021, in Oaxaca, Mexico while waiting for a meeting with the Protection Mechanism. Despite multiple attacks against Irma, the Protection Mechanism risk analysis had stated her situation was “ordinary”, meaning that “she can wait” and that “her life is not in danger”. (Photo: Family lawyer/Common Dreams).
Along with Canadian civil society members of the Americas Policy Group (APG), Peace Brigades International-Canada participated in a call with the Mexico and Trilateral Affairs Division of Global Affairs Canada.
While our colleagues raised a series of key issues with Global Affairs Canada, PBI-Canada focused on the call to strengthen the Protection Mechanism for human rights defenders and journalists in Mexico.
The Protection Mechanism
We highlighted that Mexico is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for human rights defenders and journalists.
The Civil Society Space of Organizations for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists (Espacio OSC), which is accompanied by PBI-Mexico, has documented that 205 human rights defenders and journalists have been killed in Mexico between 2016 and 2025. During this period, there were also 28 attempted murders and 62 disappearances of defenders and journalists.
The Protection Mechanism provides protection measures to about 2,500 defenders and journalists. This can include bodyguards, armoured vehicles and safe houses, but more often assistance hotlines, cameras and physical security measures such as fencing for homes and offices.
The Protection Mechanism is understaffed (just eight analysts), has excessive wait times, has seen its annual budget of about CAD $45 million cut, and needs to strengthen gender, community and intersectional approaches.
Irma Galindo Barrios was forcibly disappeared while waiting for an interview to apply to be admitted into the Protection Mechanism. Several have also been killed once in the Mechanism (including journalist Kristian Zavala in March 2025, and Indigenous Rarámuri leader Julián Carrillo in October 2018). It is also possible given the level of Canadian investment that there are defenders and journalists in the Mechanism in the context of community resistance to Canadian extractivist megaprojects.
Photo: Kristian Zavala. Photo from Article 19/X.
Photo: Remembering Julián Carrillo on Parliament Hill on October 24, 2023, the fifth anniversary of his death.
UPR in January 2024
In January 2024, during the United Nations Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Mexico, Canada called on Mexico to: “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.”
Canada-Mexico Dialogue in May 2025
We note that in the Canada-Mexico Dialogue that took place on May 8, 2025, in Mexico City, the Protection Mechanism was discussed under the theme of “Freedom of Expression and the Right to Security”.
The report indicates: “Discussions addressed concerns related to attacks on freedom of expression, the influence of social media in spreading hate and discrimination, and the risks faced by journalists and human rights defenders in Mexico and globally. Topics also included the increase of digital threats, the importance of cybersecurity, the issue of disappearances in Mexico, Mexico’s human rights protection mechanisms and the possibility of a database to monitor disappearances. Both countries agreed to share experiences regarding data protection and databases.”
Our efforts so far
In September 2025, just after Canadian prime minister Mark Carney visited Mexico, PBI-Mexico accompanied two human rights defenders from the Espacio OSC to Ottawa to highlight and discuss this recommendation. They met with Global Affairs Canada officials on September 25, 2025.
On February 12, 2026, PBI-Canada and PBI-Mexico collaborated with Espacio OSC to host a 90-minute webinar that featured two of the defenders who had visited Ottawa to help amplify the call to strengthen the Protection Mechanism.
Then on February 27, 2026, PBI-Canada and PBI-Mexico conveyed the same message in a meeting with two officials at the Embassy of Canada in Mexico City just after the Team Canada Trade Mission to Mexico.
Now, March 27, 2026, we have had this meeting with representatives from the Mexico and Trilateral Affairs Division of Global Affairs Canada, as well as the Human Rights and Freedoms Division, and the Embassy of Canada in Mexico.
The upcoming Canada-Mexico Dialogue in May 2026
We look forward to providing further input for the upcoming Canada-Mexico Dialogue on Human Rights and Multilateral Affairs expected to take place in late-May in Ottawa. The thematic issues that could be discussed include gender equality; freedom of expression, media freedom and rights in the digital space; economic rights; addressing global challenges in multilateral settings; and cooperation in regional and international bodies on shared priorities.
We are now planning a second webinar in advance of the Canada-Mexico Dialogue on Human Rights and Multilateral Affairs.
We continue to follow this.
