Lack of human and financial resources, and the lack of political support are some of the main obstacles to fulfilling the protection of journalists and human rights defenders, Mexico civil society organizations warned.
A year after the enactment of legislation that created the Mechanism to Protect Journalists and Human Rights Defenders, these groups demanded the intervention of the Secretary of Government Relations, Miguel Osorio Chong, to correct the "serious obstacles and failures" that persist for proper implementation of the Mechanism of Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists.
In a letter signed by activists grouped together in the Space of Civil Society Organizations, they urged Osorio Chong to hold a meeting with their organization and point out to him the three main weaknesses identified in a diagnosis that was delivered to the undersecretary Leah Lemon, who is in charge of the functioning of the Mechanism to Protect Journalists and Human Rights Defenders People.
At one year after its publication in the Official Journal, the letter noted that the first of the three main difficulties encountered has to do with lack of access to resources, because the Technical Committee for the Trust Fund for the operation of the Mechanism not been created. By law, it is the responsibility of Osorio Chong to do what is necessary for its establishment.
The organizations signing the letter highlighted that although the law entered into force a year ago,
"the Mechanism does not have the necessary personnel nor are all areas operating in order to perform the activities required for its proper functioning."Given this deficiency, the Space for Civil Society Organizations asked Osorio Chong
"to ensure that the Mechanism be provided with sufficient human resources and to ensure their training."Since the beginning of the operation of the Mechanism, the organizations have detected that,
"it has lacked the political and institutional support required for its proper implementation at the federal, state and municipal levels."Spanish original