Mexico, DF- Defending the victims of gross human rights violations before the court is a challenge in Mexico, according to Silvia Vázquez and Alba Cruz, who explained these challenges in a two-week tour that has taken them to six European countries. The lawyers and human rights defenders (HRDs) have been working for many years as social activists and have faced threats and attacks due to their work as legal counsel to the victims of gross human rights violations. Both are beneficiaries of precautionary measures, an instrument by which the Inter American Human Rights Commission recognizes the danger they face and asks the Mexican state to ensure their safety. Despite this, they remain at risk. No one has been arrested for the attacks and threats against them and their families.

From the 18th of June to the 4th of July, Alba Cruz, member of Código DH from Oaxaca state and Silvia Vázquez of the Mexican Commission for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights (CMDPDH) of Baja California presented their work in Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Geneva, Madrid, San Sebastian, Bilbao, Valladolid and London. In these cities they held meetings and attended events with European lawyer organizations (Paris Bar, the Bar Council of Spanish Lawyers, the Association of Democratic Lawyers, the Bar Council of Bizkaia, Observatorio Valladolid, Lawyers for Lawyers Netherlands Section, the Bar of England and Wales and Solicitors International). They presented some of the structural weaknesses of the Mexican justice system, which turns the demands for respect for human rights and the fight against impunity into work full of obstacles and risks. They reflected especially on the common practice of torture in the context of preventive detention known as "arraigo" and on the violation of fundamental rights involving the concept of "arraigo".

Meetings also took place with representatives of the foreign ministries of France, Spain and the Netherlands, members of the parliaments of Spain and the Netherlands, representatives of regional governments in Spain and civil society organizations. In addition, there were interviews with the media and public events about the human rights situation in Mexico.

In Brussels, they met with officials and parliamentarians from the European Union and they hold a panel discussion convened by the German foundation Heinrich Bohl, entitled "Mexican Human Rights Defenders Under Threat." The meeting brought together over 30 representatives of European Union institutions and embassies of its member states as well as representatives of human rights civil society organizations.

In Geneva, Silvia Vazquez and Alba Cruz presented their work to representatives of the missions before the UN of Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Norway, among others. They also held meetings with representatives of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the rapporteurs for the Independence of Judges and Lawyers Working Group Against Torture. The meetings reviewed the degree of compliance by Mexico of the recommendations that were submitted and accepted during the last Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of 2009 in relation to the promotion and protection of human rights defenders. It was recalled that the respect for human rights in the administration of justice in Mexico presents serious deficiencies that must be given attention by the international community in 2013, when Mexico will repeat its UPR exercise.

PBI has accompanied Alba Cruz since 2009. For more information see PBI accompaniment of the Comité de Defensa Integral de Derechos Humanos Gobixha AC

Silvia Vásquez is a member of the Mexican Commission of Defense and Promotion of Human Rights (CMDPDH) and appeared in the publication Dignas: Voices of Women Human Rights Defenders in Mexico.