Mexico City, 7 May 2014. Peace Brigades International – Mexico Project (PBI Mexico) expresses strong concern over recent acts of aggression against human rights defenders (HRDs) and migrants that have taken place in different states throughout Mexico, as well as the high level of risk to which these persons are still exposed.

Concretely, PBI Mexico expresses concern over the following reported incidents:

6 May, 2014

On April 27, 2010, while Jyri Jaakkola and Bety Cariño were setting up a humanitarian and human rights convoy in the vicinity of the indigenous community of San Juan Copala, they were fatally attacked by a paramilitary group known as UBISORT.

Mexico City, 30 April 2014. Today the Chamber of Deputies followed the example of the Senate and unanimously passed the reform to curtail the reach of military jurisdiction in cases of violations committed by military personnel against civilians.

• Alejandra Ancheita is a leader in the field of human rights in Latin America, only Mexican women nominated to this award.

• The Project headed by Alejandra Ancheita is an innovative breakthrough in the vulnerable context facing local communities, temporary workers and migrants.

11 April 2014

Yesterday, members of the Consultative Council of the Protection Mechanism for Human Rights Defenders and Journalists carried out a meeting with Lía Limón, Sub-secretary of Human Rights for the Interior Ministry. At the meeting at the end of March, the priority issues brought up by the members of the Council regarded the effective functioning of the Mechanism and the guaranties for security that journalists and human rights defenders in the country require. The issues were:

11 April 2014

• Again, on 10 April, Carmen Ruíz, a member of the APPJ suffers persecution

The undersigned organisations are deeply concerned by recent developments that have taken place regarding the Protection Mechanism for Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) and Journalists in Mexico. We believe that such developments are likely to place HRDs and journalists at even greater risk.

Distinguished representatives of the European Union and the Mexican government, we address you on behalf of the 32 non-governmental organizations who participated in the Second Civil Society Seminar on Human Rights held in the framework of the Fourth High-Level Dialogue on Human Rights between Mexico and the European Union.

• Civil society organizations express alarm that Mexico has once again rejected UPR recommendations to eliminate arraigo.

• Likewise, Mexico did not accept the recommendation regarding jurisdiction of the Committee on Enforced Disappearance.

• Organizations await the creation of a follow-up mechanism to implement accepted recommendations.

On 20 February, PBI participated in the Seminar for European Union Delegations' Focal Points on Human Rights, which took place in Brussels and was organized by the European External Action Service (EEAS). The purpose of our participation was to share best practices and to illustrate the challenges we have observed over the 10 years since the implementation of the European Union Guidelines on Human Rights Defenders began.