National/International: “Government Should Halt Abuses of Public and Private Companies”: Civil Society Focal Group on Companies and Human Rights

Photo @ Animal Politico

On July 4th, 2019, the Civil Society Focal Group of on Companies and Human Rights, which is made up of different national and international organizations, among others, Oxfam Mexico and Services and Consultancy for Peace (SERAPAZ in its Spanish acronym), published a statement in which it demands that the government of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) “attends to human rights violations committed by companies” in Mexico.

It specifies that given the human rights crisis and omnipresent impunity in the country, the government has the obligation to “act with consistency and ensure respect for individual and collective guarantees also in their commitment to megaprojects and all collaboration agreements it makes with large Mexican and foreign companies.”

The Group identifies as a fundamental point that the recommendations of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights are respected, in addition to international agreements, such as the Escuazu Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters, be ratified and put into action. Manifesting that “the balance between development projects and respect for the environment, the rights of indigenous peoples over their territories and natural commons is necessary, particularly as regards megaprojects such as the Dos Bocas Refinery, the Maya Train and the Trans-isthmus corridor, roads and dams, among others, without neglecting campesino communities and respect for labor and union rights.”

They conclude that government strategies, such as the National Human Rights Program, should contemplate “a discussion on the responsibility of companies in the matter”, in addition to promoting solid public policies incorporating a human rights approach. This is necessary so that the ten billion dollars of foreign direct investment entering the country are applied coherently between economic interests and the aforementioned rights.

For more information in Spanish:

México: Grupo Focal de Empresas y Derechos Humanos recuerda al gobierno que está pendiente atender a violaciones de derechos humanos cometidos por empresas (Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, 4 de julio de 2019)

Atender violaciones a derechos humanos cometidas por empresas, otra tarea pendiente de la 4T (Comunicado del Grupo Focal en CEMDA, 4 de julio de 2019)

Gurría pide congruencia a AMLO en megaproyectos; “no tiene autoridad moral”, le responde (El Sol de México, 3 de mayo de 2019)

Ante los megaproyectos, el mega-reproche: AMLO no cumple (Proceso, 9 de marzo de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas: Cuarto aniversario del Frente Popular en Defensa del Soconusno en Acacoyagua (June 24th, 2019)

Oaxaca: Es publicado el decreto del decreto del Corredor Corredor Interoceánico del Istmo de Tehuantepec; se movilizan para detener su instrumentación (June 15th, 2019)

Mexico: Consultations on Maya Train and Nine “Priority” Projects of New Government (December 13, 2018)

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Guerrero: New Stage in Investigation of Ayotzinapa Case – Creation of Special Investigation Unit with Omar Gomez Trejo as Head

Photo @ teleSUR

On June 26th, Agreement A/010/19 was published in the Official Gazette of the Federation, with which the Special Investigation and Litigation Unit for the Ayotzinapa case was created.

“The agreement establishes that the Special Unit will be responsible for the investigation and prosecution of the crimes committed in Iguala, Guerrero, in September 2014, until the conclusion of all the criminal proceedings related to the events that led to the disappearance of the 43 students from the ‘Raúl Isidro Burgos’ Normal School.”

On the same day, the Attorney General’s Office (FGR in its Spanish acronym) reported that the teacher Omar Gomez Trejo would occupy the ownership of the new unit.

“For the relatives of the disappeared students and for the organizations that accompany them, the announcement means the beginning of a new stage in the criminal investigation (…) in particular, the appointment of the new head is a reason for hope.” This is due to his knowledge of the case and his long career in human rights organizations.

As a first initiative, the head of the Special Unit for Investigation and Litigation of the FGR and the Commission for Truth and Access to Justice for the Ayotzinapa case, agreed to design a work plan to guarantee progress such as, “the integration of all the archives of investigation linked to the case and that, depending directly on the Attorney General, would guarantee substantive progress in the investigation and clarification of the Ayotzinapa case”, the Government Secretariat stated.

For more information in Spanish:

Inician nueva etapa en investigación del caso Ayotzinapa (Aristegui Noticias, 28 de junio de 2019)

Omar Gómez se reúne con unidad especial del Caso Ayotzinapa (Milenio, 28 de junio de 2019)

Comunicado FGR 313/19 Se crea por Acuerdo, Unidad Especial de Investigación y Litigación para el caso Ayotzinapa (Fiscalía General de la República, 26 de junio de 2019)

Familiares y organizaciones saludan inicio de una nueva etapa en la investigación del caso Ayotzinapa (Tlachinollan, 28 de junio de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

National/Guerrero: VIDEO of Torture in Ayotzinapa Case Belies “Historic Truth” (June 27, 2019)

Guerrero: Attorney General and SEDENA Denounced for Lack of Interest in Solving Ayotzinapa Case (May 17, 2019)

Guerrero/National: More Information Published on Role of Army in Ayotzinapa Case (March 15, 2019)

Guerrero/National: Commission for Truth and Access to Justice in Ayotzinapa Case Set Up. Federal Judge Orders Investigation into Possible Responsibility of Attorney General Employees for Irregularities (January 22nd, 2019)

Guerrero/National: Decree Establishes Truth Commission for Ayotzinapa Case (December 19th, 2018)

Guerrero/National/International: CNDH and IACHR Ayotzinapa Reports (December 14th, 2018)

Guerrero/National: Ayotzinapa, Four Years On… (October 1st, 2018)

National/Guerrero: VIDEO of Torture in Ayotzinapa Case Belies “Historic Truth”

@nytimes

In recent days, a video showing acts of torture against Carlos Canto Salgado during his detention in the case of Ayotzinapa was made public by several media outlets.

According to information from Aristegui Noticias, “Canto was arrested by elements of the Federal Ministerial Police and the Secretariat of the Navy (SEMAR in its Spanish acronym); his case is one of 34 cases in which the UNHR found “strong elements of conviction” that indicate the commission of acts of torture, in addition to other human rights violations.”

“In response to accusations like that of the UN, the Attorney General’s Office (PGR in its Spanish) – now the Attorney General of the Republic – denied having built the so-called “historical truth” based on torture and affirmed that it only verified vexations in two cases,” different human rights centers reported. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights called on the Attorney General’s Office to relaunch the investigation of the case, as well as to definitively dismiss the so-called “historical truth”.

The video “confirms that the investigation of the disappearance of the student teachers resorted to practices that violated human rights” and shows “that the internal investigation of the officials who have diverted and obstructed justice is pending.”

It should be recalled that the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH in its Spanish acronym) in its recommendation on Ayotzinapa regarding Canto Salgado “expressly concluded that there was no evidence that he had been subjected to asphyxiation or electric shocks, despite the abundance of evidence and despite the repeated complaint of the detainee himself.” The video also proves that the CNDH “covered up this practice with a recommendation that is not reliable”, the organizations SERAPAZ, Tlachinollan, Fundar and CentroProdh indicated.

“It is time to break the chain of complicity and cover-ups around the Ayotzinapa case, and to focus the Mexican State’s efforts on truth and justice for all those involved with strict adherence to human rights,” said Jan Jarab, representative of the UNHR in Mexico.

For more information in Spanish:

ONU pide nueva investigación de caso Ayotzinapa tras video de tortura de detenido (Aristegui Noticias, 24 de junio de 2019)

Video de tortura comprueba inacción de gobierno en caso Ayotzinapa: ONU (Milenio, 24 de junio de 2019)

Video confirma tortura en caso Ayotzinapa y acredita encubrimiento de CNDH: OSC (23 de junio de 2019)

Ayotzinapa: video demuestra uso impune de la tortura en la investigación (Comunicado de Prensa, 23 de junio de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Guerrero: Attorney General and SEDENA Denounced for Lack of Interest in Solving Ayotzinapa Case (May 17, 2019)

Guerrero/National: More Information Published on Role of Army in Ayotzinapa Case (March 15, 2019)

Guerrero/National: Commission for Truth and Access to Justice in Ayotzinapa Case Set Up. Federal Judge Orders Investigation into Possible Responsibility of Attorney General Employees for Irregularities (January 22nd, 2019)

Guerrero/National: Decree Establishes Truth Commission for Ayotzinapa Case (December 19th, 2018)

Guerrero/National/International: CNDH and IACHR Ayotzinapa Reports (December 14th, 2018)

Guerrero/National: Ayotzinapa, Four Years On… (October 1st, 2018)

National: Murder Rate Rises in Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s First Semester

@npr

In June, the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System (SESNSP in its Spanish acronym) published data that show that in the first semester of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s administration (December 1st, 2018 to May 31st, 2019) 17,500 people were killed in the country (of which 17,011 correspond to cases of intentional homicide and 489 to femicides). The murder rate during the first semesters of Vicente Fox, Calderon and Peña Nieto, were 7.12, 4.89 and 8.01 per one hundred thousand inhabitants; while during the first six months of this government, there were 11.51 cases of homicide per hundred thousand inhabitants in the country.

Although there was a slight decrease in April, in May there were 2,903 victims of intentional homicide and 76 of femicide, totaling 2,979 people murdered. It is equivalent to an average of 96 cases per day and represents the highest monthly total of victims so far in the term of office. The states with the greatest increase in crime are Nuevo Leon, which increased 72%; Tabasco, with a growth of 50.7%; Mexico City with 43.2%; Sonora and Morelos, with increases of 43.1%.

 

For more information in Spanish:

Con AMLO y Sheinbaum se vive el primer semestre de sexenio más sangriento de la historia (La Otra opinión, 24 de junio de 2019)

Mayo, el mes más violento (El Siglo de Durango, 22 de junio de 2019)

El primer semestre rojo (El Heraldo de México, 22 de junio de 2019)

Con 17,500 asesinatos, el primer semestre de AMLO es el más violento de los últimos sexenios (Animal Político, 21 de junio de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

National/International: UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Visits Mexico (April 11, 2019)

National/International: Mexico Ranked 99th of 126 in Rule of Law Index – World Justice Project (March 12, 2019)

Chiapas: Already Five Femicides in January (February 1, 2019)

Oaxaca: Third Anniversary of Nochixtlan

Nochixtlan 2016 (@Animal Político)

On June 19th, three years after the police eviction of a blockade carried out in opposition to the educational reform in Nochixtlan, which left eight people dead and 198 wounded by firearms, thousands of professors from Section 22 of the National Union of Education Workers (CNTE in its Spanish acronym) marched to demand that the current government imprison former President Enrique Peña Nieto (2012-2018), former Secretaries of the Interior and Public Education, Miguel Angel Osorio Chong and Aurelio Nuño Mayer, as well as former governor of Oaxaca, Gabino Cue Monteagudo for their responsibility in the massacre. Similarly, they demanded punishment for the material authors, among which are elements of the Federal and State Police, for the crimes of genocide, homicide, attempted homicide, abuse of authority and injuries.

They denounced the lack of progress in response to their demands for justice, truth, reparation for the damage and non-repetition of events of this nature. They recalled that the case of Nochixtlan was sent to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) for the extrajudicial execution of persons.

The march culminated with a rally before the “Monument to the Fallen”. Eloy Lopez Hernandez, Secretary General of Section 22, highlighted the work in defense of education that three years ago society in general and teachers defended “to the ultimate consequences, a unity that the people must maintain and with which they will face the neoliberal projects that the current president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador intends to impose such as the Interoceanic projects in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec or the Maya Train in the southeast.”

For his part, the member of the Committee of Victims for Justice and Truth June 19 (COVIC in its Spanish acronym), Daniel Mayoral Lopez, reported that victims and their families continue to suffer harassment and assaults: “the last occurred on Tuesday, June 18th, when unknown persons vandalized the victims’ monument”, he said.

“The repression experienced on June 19th, 2016 in Asuncion Nochixtlan by state and federal forces that claimed the lives of eight civilians, was the result of an action by state to “punish” those who resist and oppose the projects that from the government they intend to impose”, the defender of Human Rights and presbyter, Miguel Concha said, on celebrating a mass at the end of the meeting.

On the same day of the commemoration, the state government appointed the former inspector general of the Ombudsman for Human Rights of the People of Oaxaca, Juan Rodriguez Ramos, special commissioner for the events that took place on June 19th, 2016. However, survivors of the eviction have rejected this appointment.

For more information in Spanish:

Demandan justicia en marcha por tres años de la masacre de Nochixtlán (La Jornada, 19 de junio de 2019)

A tres años de Nochixtlán, sobrevivientes exigen justicia (Proceso, 19 de junio de 2019)

A tres años, sobrevivientes del fallido desalojo en Nochxitlán exigen justicia y castigo a Peña Nieto y Gabino Cué (Página3.mx, 19 de junio de 2019)

Juan Rodríguez, comisionado especial por hechos violentos de 2016 (Quadratin, 19 de junio de 2019)
Víctimas de Nochixtlán, sin justicia a 3 años del enfrentamiento (El Imparcial, 20 de junio de 2019)

19 de junio ¡Ni perdón ni olvido! (NVI Noticias, 20 de junio de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Oaxaca/National: CNDH Issues Recommendation for Serious Human Rights Violations during Events in Nochixtlan on June 16th, 2016 (October 28, 2017)

Oaxaca: Impunidad amparada por el gobierno a dos años de Nochixtlán: ONU-DH (June 22, 2018)

Oaxaca: President of Nochixtlan Victims Committee Attacked (April 12, 2018)

National: Work Begins on National Plan for Human Rights (PNDH)

@Serapaz

On June 12th, at an event led by the Secretary of the Interior Olga Sanchez Cordero and the Undersecretary for Human Rights, Population and Migration, Alejandro Encinas Rodriguez, the work began for the preparation of the National Human Rights Program 2019-2024 (PNDH in its Spanish acronym), and it is expected to be published in December by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

Sanchez Cordero stressed that the “painful crisis in human rights was inherited by the current government” and affirmed that “the reality is not going to be invented, no matter how hard it is if we want to find a permanent solution”, particularly by the omnipresent factor of impunity. She said that, “presidential instruction, as a way to have a more just society, is to address the problems caused by inequality, violence, misogyny, impunity and corruption.” She stated that to build this national program there will be 15 forums, technical tables and other events throughout the country for the design of “the public policy that the country needs.”

The Undersecretary for Human Rights, Population and Migration, Alejandro Encinas, asked the federal public agencies to “get out of their comfort zone and address the very difficult reality of human rights,” including the issue of migration and refugee applicants. He acknowledged that, “our country has been subject to more than three thousand recommendations for violations (to these guarantees) from international organizations, both the United Nations and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and other institutions that account for the seriousness of this problem.” It revealed the importance of the advising citizen council, before “an emergency situation that demands the firm action of the State, in concurrence with society.” The academic Clara Jusidman, the member of Services and Advice for Peace (SERAPAZ in its Spanish acronym) Dolores Gonzalez; the representative of UN-Women, Belen Sanz; Consuelo Morales of Citizens in Support of Human Rights (CADHAC in its Spanish acronym); Miguel Concha, from the Francisco de Vitoria Human Rights Center; the former Minister of the SCJN, Jose Ramon Cossio, the researcher Mauricio Merino and the representative of the UNHCHR, Jan Jarab. are members of this council.

Representing the council, Dolores Gonzalez stressed that, “the participation of all is required, the history of these exercises has made us skeptical, but the serious, unsustainable, intolerable reality that we live today forces us to deploy all possible resources to transform it. It will depend on the institutional commitment to the process, on the commitment that the victims and civil society put into this process, but above all on the conviction of each to break the mechanisms that perpetuate violence and that it is possible to get closer and closer to the truth, justice, reparation and measures of non-repetition, by which it is possible to build true peace.”

For more information in Spanish:

INICIA GOBIERNO DE MÉXICO DISEÑO DEL PROGRAMA NACIONAL DE DERECHOS HUMANOS 2019-2024 (Gobierno de México, 12 de junio de 2019)

Inician trabajos para el Programa Nacional de Derechos Humanos (Proceso, 12 de junio de 2019)

Instalación del Consejo Asesor del Programa Nacional para Derechos Humanos (Serapaz, 12 de junio de 2019)

Segob inicia Programa Nacional de Derechos Humanos 2019-2024 (SDP Noticias, 12 de junio de 2019)

No se maquillará la crisis de derechos humanos: SG (La Jornada, 13 de junio de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

National: Seven Journalists and 11 HR Defenders Murdered in 2019 – UNHCHR (20 de junio de 2019)

National: Absence of President Lopez Obrador at Presentation of CNDH Report “Disheartening for the Defense of Human Rights” (June 9, 2019)

National/International: UNO and IACHR Warn of Situation of Human Rights Defenders in Latin America. At Least Ten Murdered in Mexico (June 6, 2019)

 

National: Seven Journalists and 11 HR Defenders Murdered in 2019 – UNHCHR

In a statement published on June 12th, the Office in Mexico of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) condemned the murders of the journalist Norma Sarabia Garduza the previous day and the environmental defender Jose Luis Alvarez Flores two days before. Both carried out their work in Tabasco.

The UNHCHR emphasized that Sarabia Garduza is the seventh journalist killed in Mexico during 2019 and the first female journalist in this same period; and that with Alvarez Flores there are at least eleven human rights defenders murdered in the country this year. It highlighted with concern that in just 13 months, four cases of defenders and journalists killed in the state of Tabasco have already been documented and that the office was unaware of progress in the investigations in any of the cases.

The Office reiterated its “conviction, also indicated by numerous international human rights mechanisms, that the lack of effective and diligent investigations encourages a cycle of impunity that facilitates the commission of these crimes,” which is why it urged the authorities to conduct prompt and impartial investigations into “the assassinations of Norma Sarabia Garduza and Jose Luis Alvarez Flores, effectively exhausting all lines of investigation, including those that may be related to their work and bringing to justice those materially and intellectually responsible.” It also urged the authorities to “guarantee the safety of the colleagues and relatives of Sarabia and Alvarez.”

For more information in Spanish:

ONU-DH llama a esclarecer los asesinatos de la periodista Norma Sarabia y el defensor José Luis Álvarez, quienes ejercían su labor en Tabasco (ONU DH, 12 de junio de 2019)

Es preocupante que en 13 meses asesinaran a cuatro defensores y periodistas en Tabasco: ONU-DH (Proceso, 12 de junio de 2019)

Condena ONU-DH asesinatos de periodistas y defensores en Tabasco (Debate, 12 de junio de 2019)

Con Sarabia suman 8 periodistas asesinados en 2019: CNDH (La Jornada, 13 de junio de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas/Tabasco: Ecologist Jose Luis Alvarez Flores Murdered (June 17, 2019)

Chiapas: Denuncian ataque contra defensor de los derechos humanos en San Cristóbal de las Casas (June 10, 2019)

Chiapas: Two Members of Movement for Welfare, Peace and Common Good of Amatan and Independent Revolutionary Campesino Movement Murdered (January 28, 2019)

Chiapas: Human Rights Defender Sinar Corzo Esquinca Murdered (January 14, 2019)

National: 161 Defenders and 40 Journalists Murdered in Last Presidential Term of Office (December 14, 2018)