Photo: PBI-Mexico at a mobilization in Chihuahua for slain journalists, January 26.
On February 11, the Associated Press reported: “Even as Mexicans lament the killings of five reporters, photographers and videographers in just six weeks, they wonder: How is this happening, despite a 10-year-old program that is meant to protect journalists?”
The Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project has previously explained that a Protection Mechanism was created for journalists in Autumn 2010.
Later, the Law for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists was signed into law in June 2012. That law obliges both federal and state authorities to protect the rights of journalists and human rights defenders.
In March 2020, PBI-Mexico commented “the Mechanism continues to demonstrate notable deficiencies and concerning failures.”
The year before that, PBI also highlighted: “The Mechanism can’t possibly address its shortcomings with its current budget and staffing levels. Providing additional funding would be the first step the Mexican government can take to ensure the Mechanism has the resources necessary to manage its rapidly growing caseload.”
The Associated Press article yesterday also reported: “International organizations continue to consider the country as the most dangerous in the Western Hemisphere to practice journalism, and the Committee to Protect Journalists declared these six weeks the ‘deadliest for the Mexican press in over a decade.’”
The CPJ says 33 journalists have been murdered since December 2018.
For more, please see the report Turning the Tide on Impunity: Protection and Access to Justice for Journalists and Human Rights Defenders in Mexico.
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