SIPAZ Activities (mid-May to mid-August 2021)

INTERNATIONAL PRESENCE AND ACCOMPANIMENT

CHIAPAS

Civil Observation Missions

• In May, we visited Chicomuselo and Frontera Comalapa in the border zone of Chiapas with Guatemala to discuss the local situation with partners present in this region.

Gender

• In May, we attended the artistic event known as “Red Shoes”, in San Cristobal de Las Casas, a symbolic denunciation of the increasing femicides in the state of Chiapas.
• In June, as observers we accompanied the march organized in San Cristobal de Las Casas, within the framework of International Pride Day to highlight the demands and rights of the LGBTTTIQ+ community and to demand an end to discrimination, homophobia and abuses against it.
• In June, we were present at the Regional Women’s Forum convened by the Chiapas Women’s Rights Center in the community of Tim, municipality of San Sebastian Bachajon.

Internal Forced Displacement

• In May, we accompanied the return of six families (31 people), displaced for a year and eight months, to their Rio Jordan community in Los Chorros, Chenalho
• In June, we participated with a presentation in an event on forced displacement that took place in San Cristobal de Las Casas within the framework of the event “Four Years Living on the Borderline!”, Which featured the participation of displaced people from Laguna Larga, El Peten, Guatemala.
• In July, we were in the civil human rights observation mission that was carried out in the municipality of Chenalho, Chiapas, to document the situation of the 3,205 people who were displaced after the violence that escalated since the beginning of the month in the municipalities of Pantelho and the outskirts of Chenalho.

Indigenous Peoples

• In May, we were at the presentation of the 14 people who will occupy positions in the new Community Government Council in the municipality of Chilon, a structure created by the Tseltal people of this region and which, for three years, has been one of the expressions of their struggle for self-determination and autonomy.
• In August, we attended the online event entitled “20 Years of the Reform on the Right to Self-determination” convened, among others, by the Human Rights Directorate of the Council of the Judiciary of the Judicial Power of the State of Oaxaca.

Human Rights Defenders and Freedom of Expression

• In May, we attended the press conference “The Criminalization of the Struggle for Land and Territory in the Tseltal People of Chilon, Chiapas”, convened, among others, by the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Human Rights Center and the Indigenous Rights Center CA (CEDIAC).
• In June we were at the online presentation of the report “Situation of the Defense of Human Rights and Freedom of Expression in Mexico since the COVID-19 Pandemic”, with participants from local and international civil society, and convened, among others, by CEJIL.

Land and territory

• In June, we were at the presentation of the book “Indigenism, Violence and Dispossession” on the situation in Mexico, the government and its relationship with indigenous peoples, which includes in particular the voices of indigenous people from the Tehuantepec Isthmus.

Militarization

• In June, we attended a online session of the “Information Days on the Risks of Militarization“, coordinated by the Miguel Agustin PRODH Rights Center (Centro PRODH).

Events

• In June, we attended the online discussion organized by the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Center for Human Rights (Frayba), on the systematic and generalized practice of torture in Mexico.
• In June, we shared a space for analysis on the situation in the border area, in which various religious actors and civil organizations from the area (or with work in the area) were present.
• In June, we were at the online discussion on the National Register of Mobile Telephone Users (PANAUT) convened by the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Center for Human Rights (Frayba).
• In June, we participated in an analysis space on security in San Cristobal de Las Casas, which was attended by several civil organizations with a presence in this city.
• In June and August, we participated in an analysis space with various organizations with a presence in the municipality of Chilon, to share information and reflections on the situation in that area.
• In August, we participated in the annual Assembly of the Believing People in San Cristobal de Las Casas.
• Invited by the Vicariate for Justice and Peace, we participated almost weekly in a meeting in the diocese of San Cristobal de Las Casas on the socio-political conflict in Chiapas and the role that the Catholic Church can play in it (in particular in the case Venustiano Carranza, Pantelho and Chenalho).

OAXACA

• In May and July, we held an online meeting with Marcos Leyva, director of EDUCA to discuss what is happening in Oaxaca, and to agree on joint actions.
• In June, SIPAZ accompanied peoples and groups on the Tehuantepec Isthmus organized as “The Isthmus is Ours”, which held a solidarity meeting in the Biniza (Zapotec) community of Puente Madera. Together with state and national allies, they expressed their rejection of the Tehuantepec Isthmus-Corridor and Interoceanic Train Development Program.
• In June, we held a meeting with two members of the Consortium for Parliamentary Dialogue and Equity (Consorcio Oaxaca), to share analysis and think about coordinated actions.

GUERRERO

• In August, we attended the press conference that marked the second stage of the “Sea of grievances, mountain of losses” Campaign, coordinated by La Montaña Tlachinollan Human Rights Center.

INFORMATION AND TRAINING FOR ACTION

DELEGATIONS AND TOURS

• In July, we facilitated a space on the situation faced by human rights defenders with students from various universities in England.
• In August, a member of the team held meetings with various colleagues that we have in the Netherlands.

PUBLIC RELATIONS

• In June, we were at a meeting to present the European Union Human Rights Plan organized by the Representation of this area in Mexico.
• In July, together with other NGOs in Mexico, we participated in a meeting with organizations in Europe to coordinate advocacy actions in Europe with them.
• In August, we were in a meeting with members of Embassies and the Representation of the European Union on the situation of violence prevailing in Chiapas in recent weeks.

EDUCATION FOR PEACE

• In May and June, we co-facilitated several days of planning, monitoring and evaluation with the operational team of the Commission for Reconciliation and the Community Unity (CORECO).
• In June, we facilitated a space for reflection on the situation for human rights defenders in Mexico, particularly environmental ones, with a group of students in Moxviquil.
• In July, we facilitated a space for analysis of reality with representatives of the diocese of San Cristobal de Las Casas integrated into a structure called nucleus.
• In July, we also facilitated a space for analysis with the Mesoamerican Voices (Voces Mesoamericanas) operational team within the framework of its biannual planning.

INTERNAL TRAINING

• In August, we participated in workshops “Access to Information, Megaprojects and Human Rights in the South of Mexico”, organized by the organization Poder.

NETWORKING

• We attended the bimonthly meetings of the Network for Peace, a space for action and reflection, made up of ten organizations that seek to support peace and reconciliation processes in Chiapas.
• In May, we had a face-to-face meeting of the partners that participated in the “Latin America Project, Between Violence and Hope – Phase III: Accompaniment of Communities in Non-violent Resistance against Extractivism”, coordinated by Pax Christi International.
• In June, we participated in a consultation organized by Pax Christi International with its partners in the Americas and the Caribbean.
• In June, we participated with a presentation at the event organized in San Cristobal de Las Casas within the framework of the 25^th anniversary of Services and Consultancy for Peace (SERAPAZ).
• In July, we participated in the IV Virtual Meeting on Peacebuilding, an event that was convened, among others, by the Global Platform for the Prevention of Armed Conflicts (GPPAC, in its English acronym).
• In July, we participated in a meeting of the XX Non-Violence network, with the participation of projects from Europe, Africa and Latin America
• In May and August, we were in a meeting with representatives of the pastoral areas that are part of the Monitoring Commission of the Congress of Mother Earth, a component of the social pastoral of the diocese of San Cristobal de Las Casas.