by Jennifer Johnson and Brian Erickson
on March 08, 2010
As we mark International Women’s Day, we remember Esther Chávez Cano, a powerful champion for women’s rights who struggled to eradicate gender-based violence and whose efforts raised worldwide attention to the ever-growing toll of unresolved murders of women and girls in Ciudad Juárez.
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by Suzette Diaz and Vanessa Kritzer
on October 05, 2009
As violence linked to organized crime in Mexico continues to mount and spending on a militarized approach to public security challenges expands, reports of human rights violations by members of the security forces are increasing. Policymakers in the United States and Mexico need to ask some hard questions about how to curb drug-related violence more effectively while respecting human rights. One answer includes a focus on improving and increasing accountability over police forces rather than drawing military forces into local law enforcement.
On September 17, 2009 LAWGEF joined with the Washington Office on Latin
America and the Mexico Institute at the Woodrow Wilson Center to tackle
these questions as part of a forum regarding police reform in Mexico.
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by Suzette Diaz
on November 23, 2009
This year, the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) gave its annual Human Rights Award to the Tlachinollan Human Rights Center from the state of Guerrero in Mexico. This award honors the bravery and dedication of organizations and individuals defending human rights in Latin America.
LAWG has great respect for Tlachinollan’s work and we were moved by the beautiful words that Abel Barrera, the director of Tlachinollan, used in his acceptance speech. The following is an excerpt from that speech. To read the full speech click here. Para leer todo el discurso, haga clíc aquí.
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by Vanessa Kritzer and Jennifer Johnson
on August 26, 2009
We were disappointed and troubled to learn last week that the U.S. government had released the chunk of Merida Initiative funds that were supposed to have been withheld until the State Department reported that Mexico had demonstrated progress in key areas of human rights.
Soon after the news of the release was confirmed, the Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez Human Rights Center, the Tlachinollan Human Rights Center, and the Fundar Center for Analysis and Investigation, three prominent Mexican human rights NGOs, released a public statement condemning the U.S. government’s action, as the “human rights obligations remain unfulfilled as Mexican security forces commit widespread, unpunished violations against the civilian population.”
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by Suzette Diaz
on October 05, 2009
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by Vanessa Kritzer and Pesha Magid
on August 21, 2009
As the media has been spinning many different stories about Merida Initiative funding, we've
been glad to see fellow human rights advocates getting the truth out there.
In recent months the Washington Post has provided useful and
hard-hitting coverage of some of the brutal tactics employed by
Mexico’s military and the Mexican government’s failure to hold soldiers
accountable for human rights violations. However, on August 13th the
Post’s editorial board published a disappointing op-ed arguing that
U.S. government could best assist Mexico by turning a blind eye to
these human rights violations. So earlier this week, Kenneth Roth,
Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, and Jorge G. Castañeda, the
former foreign minister of Mexico, challenged this short-sighted
assertion in a powerful letter to the editor.
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Action Center
