Between November 2010 and December 2012, the Mexico office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) reported 89 attacks on human rights defenders. Of these, 36 occurred during 2012.
In a report, the institution asserts that, in 23% of cases, the alleged perpetrators were public officials: 12% came from the federal public administration, 6% were municipal authorities and 5% were police. Thirty-nine percent of the assailants were never identified.
OHCHR noted that authorities began an investigation process in only 37 of the 89 attacks. These investigations resulted in five perpetrators being identified, which led to three arrests.
"The failure to punish the perpetrators not only contributes to the repetition of the crimes, but also aggravates the risk level under which human rights defenders continue to do their work," says the report.In 38% of the assaults that OHCHR documented, there were direct threats to human rights defenders, 13% suffered "arbitrary interference", 12% harassment, 11% arrests and 11% were murdered.
In the report, Oaxaca, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Guerrero and Mexico City stand out as the five most dangerous entities for human rights defenders. Those most attacked are activists who fight for the rights of migrants and those who defend civil and political rights.
Between November 2012 and April 2013, the new Mechanism to Protect Human Rights Defenders and Journalists received 64 complaints, 38 from activists and 26 from journalists.
The report states that the Mechanism is in an early stage of operations and needs to overcome obstacles "to have economic resources available, have adequate internal structure and be provided with the appropriate officials."
While the OHCHR recognizes the condemnations of assaults to human rights defenders made successively by Felipe Calderón and Enrique Peña Nieto, it regrets that these are limited to "reactions" to specific attacks.
Promises
OHCHR published its first report in 2009, which made recommendations to the Mexican president to protect human rights defenders. The just released report takes stock of progress in the four years since the recommendations.
The report regrets that the constitutional reform on human rights that went into effect on June 10, 2011 incorporated 11 temporaty items whose term has already expired. From this ambitious law, it adds, only one amendment to the law of the National Human Rights Commission has been passed and no secondary laws.
Similarly, the institution notes the two-year delay that occurred in passing the constitutional reform that enables a citizen to appeal for an amparo [order of protection, i.e., injunction] against a violation of human rights as recognized in international treaties. The reform of June 6, 2011 provided for a period of 120 days to draft a law, however this law wasn't promulgated until April 3 of this year.
While it recognized efforts by the government towards the protection of human rights defenders, almost all the recommendations that the OHCHR made in 2009 were reiterated this year. Three years ago, for example, it urged that community broadcasting be legally recognized and enabled. Today, legislation is not contemplated and the agency noted that there are problems in granting radio frequencies.
While the OHCHR welcomed the reform of the Secretariat of National Defense, it said that legislation on the use of force is still lacking. It also welcomes the decision of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJ) on August 6, 2012, which allows civilian courts to try military personnel responsible for human rights violations.
New tools, such as the Law on Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists--which it called a "transcendent step"--the National Development Plan for 2013-2018 and the Pact for Mexico generate high expectations within the OHCHR.
Nevertheless, it insists that these new mechanisms need to be fulfilled, because
"the scale and extent of damage suffered by the activists does not yet reflect the expected result, the need for justice, reparation and guarantees of non-repetition demand by their cases."Spanish original