The United Nations special rapporteur on human rights defenders, Mary Lawlor, assured in a message released this Monday that there is no security for these activists and that fear is paralyzing peace efforts.
The message is given as part of a three-day visit to Chiapas, where he met with defenders, members of groups and civil organizations of this state.
In Chiapas “there are no security conditions for human rights defenders,” the rapporteur warned, adding that “militarization, organized crime, megaprojects and criminalization increase the risks.”
He also pointed out that the testimonies received are alarming, especially in the case of “women defenders, indigenous people and defenders of the rights of people on the move,” as well as the acts of murder, forced displacement and arbitrary detentions.
Lawlor took up the words of father and activist Marcelo Pérez Pérez, spoken in 2021: “Many people want peace, but they are paralyzed by fear. Fear is the greatest enemy of peace and we have to overcome it.”
He indicated that Father Marcelo’s case is emblematic, although not the only one that he has presented to the authorities, and stressed that “the murders of defenders represent deep wounds for their communities.”
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Regarding the case of Father Marcelo, with whom he met in 2020 after assuming his mandate and then in 2024, prior to his murder in October of that year, he regretted that, even with multiple requests to the Mexican Government to grant protection to the priest, “the official response came when Father Marcelo had already been murdered, shot dead.”
He expressed his concern for people arbitrarily detained like Bersaín Velasco García, and expressed the need for justice for victims of murders, torture, disappearances and forced displacement.
Likewise, the rapporteur assured in her message that she will follow up on the situation in Chiapas and will accompany those people or communities that are at risk, reiterating that justice and human dignity are the basis of a just society.
The message was read during the discussion ‘The situation of human rights defenders in Chiapas: the challenges of their protection’, organized by the Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Human Rights Center (Frayba), at the Faculty of Law of the Autonomous University of Chiapas (Unach).
Members of the Observatory of Human Rights Defenders in Chiapas participated in the discussion; Moctezuma Bersaín Velasco Aguilar, son of the community defender imprisoned since 2022; the National Network of Civil Human Rights Organizations All Rights for All, All and All, and the Frayba.
With information from EFE
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