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UN High Commissioner notes UK, Guatemala, Mexico, Colombia and Kenya in her address to Human Rights Council

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo by Valentin Flauraud/EPA

Yesterday, UN High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet gave an Oral Update on global human rights developments to the 50th Human Rights Council session.

Excerpts from her address include:

“I am worried about plans in the United Kingdom to replace one of the most important pieces of its human rights legislation – the Human Rights Act – with more limited legislation. I have concerns that  repeal of key elements of the Human Rights Act would risk undermining access to justice and the right to effective remedies, introduce legal uncertainty, and increase costs.

In Guatemala, we observe, over a sustained period of time, a pattern of attacks against justice officials for their work involving emblematic cases of serious human rights violations, corruption and impunity. The state must guarantee the independence of judicial institutions and protection of justice officials.

In Mexico, I encourage the strengthening of civil institutions to establish an orderly plan to withdraw the military from public security tasks.

In Colombia, I welcome the peaceful and democratic character of the first round of the presidential elections, and trust a similar spirit will govern the run off, guaranteeing political rights. I urge effective implementation of the peace agreement, particularly the dismantling of groups responsible for the increase in violence. I welcome the significant transitional justice developments, including acknowledgement by military officials of responsibility for killings of civilians falsely presented as killed in combat. I call on the State to ensure independent transitional justice mechanisms and guarantee the protection of participating witnesses and victims.

For Angola and Kenya, I join the UN system in expressing hope for peaceful and inclusive elections, where Angolans and Kenyans can freely and safely exercise their rights and fundamental freedoms, without discrimination, as guaranteed by their Constitutions.”

Her full speech can be read here.

Colombian Energy Minister in Toronto, says coal exports to Canada have increased since Russian invasion of Ukraine

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: Yesterday, the Mining Injustice Solidarity Network (MISN) tweeted: “We have shut down Front St in downtown Toronto and closed down traffic in front of #PDAC2022. We are standing with representatives from mining-impacted communities who have come to condemn PDAC & Canadian mining in their territories.”

On June 13, Mining.com reported: “Colombia is set to increase coal and petroleum production as it steps up to fill the void created by sanctions against Russia, Energy Minister Diego Mesa said on Monday.”

“[Colombia] has restarted coal exports to Ireland, Mesa said on the sidelines of Canada’s PDAC conference in Toronto. Colombia has also increased its coal exports to the Netherlands, Spain and Canada since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he added.”

The article further notes: “Mesa said he expects Colombian oil production to reach at least 800,000 barrels per day by end of this year and up to 900,000 barrels per day by 2023. ‘Any excess production will be put to international use,’ he said.”

Drummond

The article also specifies: “Poland has signed for one million tonnes of coal from [the Birminghm, Alabama-based transnational] Drummond and is expected to place a contract for an additional two million tonnes, [Mesa] said.”

The Drummond website notes: “Our Colombian mining operation includes the Mina Pribbenow and El Descanso open-pit coal mines located in the Cesar Coal Basin. Today, we own and manage roughly 2 billion tons of reserves in La Loma, El Descanso, Rincόn Hondo, Similoa, and Cerrolargo, the last three are in the process of environmental licensing.”

Glencore – El Cerrejon

Two weeks ago, Deutsche Welle reported that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke with Colombian President Ivan Duque about El Cerrejon in early-April. The Chancellor wants to import more coal from this mine to end its reliance on Russian coal.

Numerous groups in Canada including the Atlantic Regional Solidarity Network and MiningWatch Canada have also drawn attention to the fact that NB (New Brunswick) Power has been buying approximately 500,000 tonnes of coal from Cerrejón since the mid-1990s. Nova Scotia Power also imports coal from Cerrejón.

The El Cerrejon coal mine, located in the department of La Guajira, is the biggest open pit mine in Latin America covering an area the size of 100 soccer fields. It also consumes 30 million litres of water every day. It is now fully owned by the Swiss company Glencore.

The Deutsche Welle article further notes: “Around 5,000 Wayuu children have died of starvation and thirst in the region around the mine.”

Rosa Maria Mateus Parra, a lawyer with the José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers’ Collective (CCAJAR), explains: “It’s caused by the shortage of water, because rivers and streams are contaminated, or have dried. And the lack of food because coal is now mined where indigenous communities grew their vegetables. Those children who survive have skin rashes and respiratory diseases because of the fine particle pollution.”

In 2020, CCAJAR asked UN Special Rapporteur David R. Boyd to call for “an immediate suspension of the mining operations of Cerrejón” and “in accordance with its Paris Agreement obligations, relevant in order to guarantee the human rights of the Wayuu people, the Colombian State should gradually eradicate coal mining.”

Last year, CCAJAR helped launch a constitutional action against El Cerrejon.

Their media statement at that time explained: “[Wayuu] communities have suffered serious violations of human rights, affecting their right to a decent life, to water, to health, to food security and sovereignty, to information, to participation and to free prior and informed consent, among others.”

We continue to follow this situation.

The Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project has accompanied CCAJAR since 1995.

Colombian Mines and Energy minister Diego Mesa.

PBI-Canada receives Global Affairs emails on armoured vehicle sales to Colombia via an Access to Information request

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: Colombian police use what appears to be a Toronto-based INKAS-manufactured armoured vehicle to stop buses of delegates travelling to Cali for a popular assembly related to the national strike on July 17, 2021.

In response to our Access to Information (ATIP) request submitted in September 2021 for details about the export of Canadian-built INKAS armoured vehicles to the Colombian national police, we have just received a 3-page document with two emails (dated October 14, 2021 and June 11, 2021) from an official with TIE (Export Controls Division) sent to various other Global Affairs Canada officials.

Those officials included the USS-DMA (Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs – Associate Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs) and DMT (Deputy Minister of International Trade) as well as officials with the TFM (Trade Policy and Negotiations), TID (Trade Controls Bureau), TIR (Export Controls Policy Division) and NLA (Andean Division).

The October 2021 email is an update on the June 2021 email, with little variation.

20 Export Permits to Colombia

The emails note that there are currently 20 valid export permits to Colombia, of which “7 are for Group 2 (Munitions List) items” including “4 for — spare parts and components to the Ministry of National Defence of the Republic of Colombia as part of the LAV program.”

The emails also assure: “Of the on-Group 2 permits, none would fall into the police/paramilitary crowd control category.”

The October 2021 email then further specifies: “There are currently 3 permit applications (1 export; 2 brokering) to Colombia under review.”

Our speculation is that one of these permit applications could relate to the 50 Light Armoured Vehicles (LAVs) that the Colombian Army wants to buy, according to this article in InfoDefensa.com.

LAV sales to the Colombian Army

The email from TIE adds: “The vast majority of the more than $47 million in Canadian military exports to Colombia between 2012 and 2020 took place in 2014 when — exported 46 LAVs to the Colombian Army through the Canadian Commercial Corporation (CCC) in [a] government to government contract.”

The next line states: “Military exports since 2014 have largely consisted of items to service these vehicles.”

The “Report on Exports of Military Goods from Canada” (2015-2020) suggest that this totalled $460,338.87 in 2020, $310,576.25 in 2018, $114,688.85 in 2017, $215,066.11 in 2016 and $522,203 in 2015.

INKAS armoured vehicles sold to the Colombian police

The email also says: “Beyond the export of LAVs, there is not much else of note. In 2014, 1 permit was issued to INKAS to export (4) armored transportation vehicles (controlled under ECL 2-6 and valued at — to the Colombian National Police for patrolling and intervention in intense guerilla areas.”

The paragraph continues: “Officials from BGOTA [the Embassy of Canada in Colombia] asked the Colombian National Police (CNP) whether these armoured vehicles were being used in response to the social protests that began in late April. CNP officials responded that no Canadian armoured vehicle was being used for such a purpose.”

We are concerned that the Canadian Embassy appears only to have asked the police without a further independent verification/confirmation process.

Then following an estimated 9-line redacted paragraph, the email says: “The vehicles are not being used by ESMAD (Escuadron Movil Antidisturbios or Mobile Anti-Disturbance Squadron) —”

More than 4 INKAS armoured vehicles?

We are also trying to square the official statement on the sale of 4 INKAS armoured vehicles with this Plant: Canada’s Manufacturing Magazine article (April 2015) that reports: “[INKAS] is still building behemoth armoured personnel carriers (APCs). In fact, there’s a tendered order for 26 of its Huron vehicles, at about $450,000 a pop, for the National Police of Colombia.”

That article adds: “The Huron is built on a Kenmore T370 chassis and will be outfitted with a cannon to wrangle unruly rioters with foam, tear gas, dyes and water.”

“Don’t send us any more weapons”

On June 1, the first day of the CANSEC arms show in Ottawa, the Cali-based Association for Research and Social Action (Nomadesc) tweeted: “We Colombians do not want more weapons, no more massacres, no more disappearances, no more threats, no more fear. #StopTheGenocide. We demand truth, justice and guarantees of non-repetition. Don’t send us any more weapons. That has made them accomplices of Barbarism.”

We continue to follow this situation.

PBI-Guatemala accompanies six defenders of Maya Ch’orti’ ancestral territory as judicialization process against them continues

By
Brent Patterson
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On June 10, PBI-Guatemala posted:

“PBI accompanies the 6 criminalized indigenous authorities of Olopa in their evidence presentation hearing. Contrary to what was decided in Monday’s [June] 6th hearing, another judge, who presided over the hearing, ruled that all 6 have to be present. The judge decided that on May 10, 2023, the oral and public debate will be opened to the six defenders of the territory, who for the time being have to continue signing the book at the Public Office every 15 days.”

Earlier that week, on June 6, PBI-Guatemala had posted: “PBI accompanies 6 criminalized defenders of Olopa in the intermediate phase hearing. The six are part of a legal process against 38 defenders of the territory and members of the Maya Ch’orti’ Indigenous Authorities of Olopa and Quezaltepeque accused by workers of a company of having illegally detained them. The judge ruled that these workers cannot become plaintiffs in the case. In addition, he agreed that the defendants can be represented by their lawyers at the next hearing so as not to miss work. The hearing to offer evidence follows on Friday [June 10].”

Prensa Comunitaria also tweeted: “The members of the [Olopa Indigenous] Council are being criminalized by the mining company Cantera de los Manantiales.”

In 2015, the Guatemalan Ministry of Energy and Mines granted a 30-year mining licence to Cantera Los Manantiales to mine in the area about 200 kilometres east of Guatemala City without consulting the Ch’orti‘ communities of Olopa.

Prensa Comunitaria has reported: “The mining project is rejected by the population and various organizations that claim that the communities were never consulted about its installation and has caused serious damage to the environment.”

This past February, Prensa Comunitaria tweeted a short video with the caption: “Jesús Méndez from the San Nicolás indigenous community of #Quezaltepeque, affirms that they accompany the 6 indigenous authorities of #Olopa accused by the Los Manantiales mining company because they are defending the land of their ancestors.”

PBI-Guatemala has also noted: “The Maya Ch’orti’ Indigenous Authorities of Olopa and Quezaltepeque are fighting for recognition as indigenous communities, the recovery of their spirituality, the defense of their territory and the right to free, prior and informed consultation before the entry of mining projects into their territory.”

PBI-Guatemala began accompanying the Maya Ch’orti’ Indigenous Authorities of Olopa and Quezaltepeque in June 2021.

For more on this struggle, please see the Cultural Survival article: Murdered in Defense of Life: The Legacy of Ch’orti’ Human Rights Defender Medardo Alonzo Lucero.

PBI-Honduras accompanies CEHPRODEC at meeting with Tolupán people defending their territory from extractivism

By
Brent Patterson
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On June 10, PBI-Honduras tweeted:

“According to our worldview, our life depends on the forest and the land” We accompanied @Cehprodechn to a meeting with the coordination of the Tolupan people in Las Vegas de Tepemechín. The Tolupan people defend their identity which is rooted in their territory.”

On Facebook, PBI-Honduras adds:

“The Tolupan people constantly work in the defense of their forests, water and in the protection of their identity which is rooted in their land. From PBI we remind you that, according to ILO Convention 169, indigenous peoples have the right to protect their cultures which establish an unbreakable connection with their territories.”

PBI-Honduras has also previously explained: “The Tolupán people are one of the nine indigenous peoples of Honduras, during their process of struggle against dispossession and looting they have been one of the most martyred, from 1990 to date approximately 120 of their members have been murdered, most of them linked to the defense of the territory. ”

And Tierra de Resistentes has reported:

“The Tolupan San Francisco de Locomapa Tribe, in Yoro, Honduras, has suffered murders, judicial harassment and attacks due to its opposition to power generation projects.

Within the best Honduran Pine forests and a land rich in minerals such as iron oxide, silver and antimony, over 40 murders have occurred in indigenous communities in the last 20 years, according to a report submitted by the Working Group on Mining and Human Rights in Latin America before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).

In San Francisco de Locomapa, murders linked to the mining conflict started in 2013. From that moment, the Broad Movement for Dignity and Justice (MADJ, in Spanish) has recorded 10 murders not only linked to the wood conflict but also to an antimony mine.”

Front Line Defenders has also reported:

“On 25 August 2013, environmental and indigenous people’s rights defenders María Enriqueta Matute, Armando Fúnez Medina and Ricardo Soto were killed in the village of San Francisco de Locomapa (Yoro) in Honduras.

All three defenders belonged to tribes of the Tolupán indigenous people, who have faced centuries of discrimination and violence – from Spanish colonizers in the 1500s to mining companies in 2016. Before their assassination, María, Armando and Ricardo were peacefully protesting against a mining operation and the construction of a hydroelectric dam on their indigenous land.

Their killing followed years of threats and attacks by sicarios, people hired by mining companies, loggers and landowners to intimidate the local community.”

We continue to follow the situation in Yoro.

New reports highlight dangers faced by environmental defenders opposed to fracking in Colombia

By
Brent Patterson
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Video: Carolina Agón of CREDHOS speaks at the launch of the CIEDH report.

Two key reports released on June 9 – one from the Information Center on Business and Human Rights (CIEDH), the other from Fundación Conflict Responses (CORE), CRY-GEAM and Extinction Rebellion Colombia – document the dangerous situation for environmental defenders in Colombia, notably those challenging fracking.

El Espectador reports:

“Between January 2020 and December 2021, the Information Center on Business and Human Rights (CIEDH) recorded 58 cases of attacks on trade unionists, activists or human rights defenders whose work questioned companies or business practices in the country.

The figures come from the report Business and human rights in Colombia: urgent protection is needed for people who defend the land, territory and the environment.

The CIEDH classified the recorded attacks on defenders by branches of production as follows: the oil, coal and gas sector (23 cases), agribusiness such as palm, banana or sugar (10 cases), mining (9 cases), hydroelectric and renewable energy sources (4 cases), transportation (5 cases), private security (5 cases), tourism and water companies one case respectively.

The attackers come from a wide spectrum that includes from private security companies to state agents, as well as members of the affected communities themselves, who see their interests threatened if the business projects end.

However, in Colombia, the investigation would show that the majority of attacks come from paramilitary groups and organized crime groups that “allegedly sometimes act on behalf of private companies,” according to the report: “some of the largest and most well-known companies established in the extractive sector were repeatedly linked to violence in their operations.”

Several specific cases are cited in the report, but there is one especially important one that has to do with opposition to fracking projects in Magdalena Medio.

The case of Magdalena Medio is also emblematic because in Santander, the department that covers part of this subregion, is where the greatest number of harassments against defenders and trade unionists is concentrated.

According to the CIEDH, in Colombia there is a “failure” in the “enhanced due diligence” of companies to prevent their business practices from leading by action or omission to violent dynamics in the areas where they are operating.

As recommendations, the Center proposes that businesses and companies “respect the full rights of indigenous and Afro-descendant communities and guarantee access to reparation, when damage occurs” and also “assume political commitments, recognize the increased risk, respect land rights and the forests of ethnic communities.”

The full article in El Espectador can be read at “En Colombia hay un clima de intimidación sistémica a los líderes sociales”: CIEDH.

Video: Oscar Sampayo speaks at the launch of the report.

The report from CORE, CRY-GEAM and Extinction Rebellion Colombia on attacks against environmental leaders reveals a similar situation. It focuses on environmental defenders in the Magdalena Medio.

The report highlights: “It is due to the logic of hydrocarbons extraction, within the framework of the claim of the Government of Iván Duque in imposing the technique of hydraulic fracturing in generating rock (fracking) in the region, where different voices, processes and leadership question the form as extraction in the territory is given due to the environmental impacts it generates.”

Environmental defender Oscar Sampayo says: “This report reveals that Santander is the department with the greatest number of human rights violations, there we registered at least 16 threats and three attacks against people who exercise environmental leadership and defense of nature, the panorama is worrying because we also have two leaders were assassinated in the region, which shows an increase in these violations.”

For more, please see the Vanguardia article Informe devela grave violencia contra líderes ambientales en el Magdalena Medio.

Canadian capital in Colombia

The latest available figures from Natural Resources Canada say that Canadian energy assets abroad (CEAA) in Colombia totalled $8 billion (in 2018) and that 28 Canadian mining companies held assets totalling $1.406 billion in Colombia (in 2019).

The Banking on Climate Chaos website also reveals that Toronto-based Scotiabank has invested $3.032 billion in Ecopetrol since 2018. Oil Change International has also noted that Export Development Canada (EDC) provided $300 million to Ecopetrol between 2012 and 2020.

Ecopetrol is the company that will operate the Kale and Platero fracking pilot projects in Puerto Wilches.

Recent articles in El Espectador and Al Jazeera have reported on allegations of links between Ecopetrol and paramilitary groups. This was also recently reported on in Rabble.ca.

Furthermore, Toronto-based Sintana Energy Inc. holds a 30 per cent share in the VMM-37 block where the Platero fracking pilot project will be conducted. The company welcomed the National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH) approval of the project.

And amid the concerns that extractivism brings human rights violations, securitization and militarization of territory, Canada will reportedly sell 50 Light Armoured Vehicles (LAVs) to the Colombian Army. Canada also sold  Huron tactical attack and defense vehicles to the Colombian police in 2014 reportedly “outfitted with a cannon to wrangle unruly rioters with foam, tear gas, dyes and water.”

We strongly encourage the Government of Canada to uphold the findings and recommendations in the CIEDH and Sinderh reports.

María del Mar Pizarro tweet: “Today we are in the @BoellColombia accompanying @omsampayo in the launch of the first report of the information system on human rights violations against environmental leaders in Colombia @fundacion_core @Xrcolombiaaa”

A legacy gift to PBI-Canada from Jacqueline Neun

By
Brent Patterson
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Jacqueline Neun

May was Legacy Month and as a Board Member of PBI-Canada and long-time supporter of Peace Brigades International, it was fitting that we recently fulfilled our late mother’s desire to support PBI’s accompaniment work through a bequest of $25,000. This gift, as with others she made, reflected her commitment to social justice and the promotion of human rights around the world. When she sought my advice some years back, I urged her to consider PBI, suggesting that such support was one way to help ensure that individuals and groups on the front lines of critical struggles and making a meaningful difference were able to do their vital work with less risk to their lives and mental and physical integrity. I am very grateful that she accepted this advice, as is my family.

-Heather Neun

PBI-Guatemala accompanies Ancestral Ch’orti’ Authorities of Olopa in their activities with Observatory of Extractive Industries

By
Brent Patterson
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On June 9, PBI-Guatemala posted:

“PBI accompanies the Ancestral Authorities Ch’orti’ of Olopa in their activities with the Observatory of Extractive Industries.”

The Extractive Industries Observatory (OIE) is an independent research platform built to acquire, organize and visualize data on extractive projects (mining and oil) in Guatemala.

PBI-Guatemala has previously explained:

“The communities of Olopa are confronting the company American Minerals S.A., which was granted a 25-year antimony extraction license in 2012, without prior consultation.

The Maya Ch’orti’ Indigenous Authorities of Olopa and Quezaltepeque are working in two municipalities of the same name, in the department of Chiquimula. The Maya Ch’orti’ Indigenous Council of Olopa is formed by 14 communities and Quezaltepeque council by 15.

The Maya Ch’orti’ Indigenous Authorities of Olopa and Quezaltepeque are fighting for recognition as indigenous communities, the recovery of their spirituality, the defense of their territory and the right to free, prior and informed consultation before the entry of mining projects into their territory.”

Oil in Guatemala

Guatemala has oil reserves of 83,070,000 barrels.

KeyEnergyFacts.com has also noted: “The country has produced heavy oil from a number of fields in two regions within the Peten Basin in the centre of the country, since 1976. Significant new prospects appear limited but the government is encouraging new exploration in an attempt to raise output. Without a suitable refinery most of its oil is exported to North America.”

PBI-Guatemala began accompanying the Maya Ch’orti’ Indigenous Authorities of Olopa and Quezaltepeque in June 2021.

The environmental and human rights impacts of RBC and Amerisur/GeoPark oil extractivism in Putumayo, Colombia

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: Jani Silva, November 2021.

In May 2016, The Guardian reported: “[Colombian environmental defender Jani] Silva says she has seen firsthand the effects of big business in Putumayo, where, she believes, oil companies ‘exploit irresponsibly’ and contaminate the environment despite legal protection granted by courts to the Amazon peasant farmer reserve zone.”

In that article, Silva is quoted saying: “When I go to other places where the businesses are, and I see only oil and contamination, that is very painful.”

Gimena Sánchez-Garzoli of WOLA has also written: “Oil slicks pollute the soil and drinking water of hundreds of farmers, animals, and plants, which is why Silva has campaigned for years against oil extraction.”

Ecopetrol/Amerisur overlap the Reserve Zone

PBI-Colombia has also highlighted that “one of the great challenges” the Perla Amazónica Peasant Reserve Zone (ZRCPA) in the department of Putumayo “has faced has been the arrival and expansion of oil companies.”

Amnesty International has specified: “[Silva’s] work has placed her at loggerheads with the Ecopetrol oil company, which won a license to operate in areas overlapping with the reserve in 2006. In 2009, the license was transferred to the Amerisur oil company. Since then, at least two oil spills have poisoned the water sources that local communities depend on.”

Agenda Propia has also explained: “In the 22,000 hectare reserve, Jani and her community have a 4,632 hectare headache in Alea called Amerisur.”

It adds: “The company first applied for an environmental license in 2017, for 936 hectares, then applied for four thousand more two years later.”

In 2019, the Platanillo block (that the Organization of American States says “allegedly overlaps the Reserve Zone”) produced 1,369,440 barrels of oil.

RBC, Amerisur and GeoPark

During the period described above (starting in 2009), what has been the relationship between the Toronto-based Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), Amerisur and GeoPark (that acquired Amerisur in November 2019)?

In May 2010, Amerisur announced that it had “appointed Royal Bank of Canada Europe Limited, trading as RBC Capital Markets, as its Nominated Adviser and Broker.”

In October 2012, Money Week reported: “RBC Capital Markets has Amerisur as a top pick, albeit in the speculative risk category.”

In February 2013, Amerisur CEO John Wardle presented at the RBC Capital Markets’ International Exploration & Production Conference in Toronto.

In November 2019, GeoPark announced it had acquired Amerisur for £242 million. The Banking on Climate Chaos website documents that RBC provided USD $13.68 million in financing to GeoPark in 2016.

Risks faced by Jani Silva

As noted above, defending ZRCPA territory has had significant consequences for Silva. She has been followed, intimidated by unknown aggressors, and threatened with death.

Silva says: “For opposing extractive operations by oil companies and defending a healthy environment I have received threats, I was displaced from my home [in 2017], and there is an ongoing plan to kill me.”

Silva is accompanied by the Inter-Church Justice and Peace Commission, which in turn has been accompanied by PBI-Colombia since 1994.

We continue to follow this situation and to make the links between Canadian capital and the safety of environmental defenders like Jani Silva.

PBI-Mexico accompanies Espacio OSC at the Dialogue on the protection of journalists and human rights defenders

By
Brent Patterson
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On June 9, PBI-Mexico tweeted:

“This June 8 and 9, we accompany #EspacioOSC and observe the Dialogue for the General Law Initiative for the Prevention and Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists, held in Morelia #Michoacán.”

On Facebook, PBI-Mexico adds:

“Michoacán is the 4th federal entity with the most people incorporated into the Protection Mechanism.

Advocates demand federal and state authorities a model of protection from a cross-sectional, gender-based, and collective approach, and not from a public safety approach, according to declared by the #OSCSpace.

From PBI Mexico, we urge the government to integrate the contributions and petitions made by the participants in this dialogue and to ensure the protection of people who are at risk for their defense and denunciation work.”

Espacio OSC adds: “Currently there are 111 people assigned to the Federal Mechanism, among which are 95 defenders (59 women – 36 men) and 16 journalists (2 women – 14 men).”

For a series of tweets from Espacio OSC about the meeting, please click here.

Eleven reporters have been killed in Mexico since the start of 2022.

In March of this year, The Guardian reported that Armando Linares López, the director of a news website called Michoacán Monitor, was reportedly shot at least eight times on Tuesday afternoon outside his home in the city of Zitácuro, Michoacán.

In 2021, seven reporters were killed in Mexico, making it the most dangerous country for journalists for the third year in a row, according to Reporters Without Borders.

Forty-two human rights defenders were killed in Mexico in 2021.

Espacio OSC is accompanied by the Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project.

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