eace Brigades International has just won the 2011 Jaime Brunet Prize for its "commendable work" providing support and international protection to human rights defenders, "where they are subjected to attacks or serious threats and their situation is most critical and vulnerable."
Oaxaca, Oax:- PBI Mexico is concerned due to a complaint which has been presented against Father Alejandro Solalinde, founder of the migrant shelter “Hermanos en el camino” (“Brothers on the Path”), located in Ixtepec City, Oaxaca. The complaint, for neglect of persons, was presented by a Gualtemalan migrant, who is reported to hace received advice from the National Migration Institute (INM – Instituto Nacional de Migración).
Mexico City, - On Thursday December 15 a ceremony will take place to formally acknowledge the Mexican State's international responsibility, as mandated by the decision of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) in the Case of Valentina Rosendo Cantú.
Mexico City, - The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), has condemned the attack on woman human rights defender Norma Andrade and urged the Mexican government to provide protective measures for her and her family, a week after her shooting by unknown assailants in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua.
Defending their land is the priority of the Uwa people. Their ancestral territory covers approximately 14.000 square kilometers - an area half the size of Belgium.
Today however, they possess only 14% of these lands. Currently there are two projects under development in the region that would affect the indigenous reserve. One of these is the Niscota Block, an oil extraction project extending more than 600 square kilometers and plans are also underway to construct a pipeline.
The human rights defender Norma Andrade was shot in Ciudad Juarez on Friday, December 2 and is currently hospitalized. The National Human Rights Commission [Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos, CNDH], Amnesty International and the National Network All Rights for All [Red Nacional Todos los Derechos para Todas y Todos, Red TdT] have requested that the Mexican government provide all necessary security measures for the protection of the defender and her family.
PBI invited Blanca Velazquez, Coordinator of the Worker Support Centre [Centro de Apoyo al Trabajador, CAT] in the State of Puebla, to participate on 16 and 17 November in a conference, also commemorating the 30th anniversary of PBI and organized by the Spanish Office of PBI, on the criminalization of human rights defenders. The conference, entitled "Undermining Human Rights defense: the criminalization as a strategy”, was held in Barcelona.
