SIPAZ Activities (Mid-August to mid-November 2021)

INTERNATIONAL PRESENCE AND ACCOMPANIMENT

CHIAPAS

Gender

• In October, we participated in the press conference in which civil organizations shared their views on the theme “The Situation of the Human Rights of Women and Girls in the Context of the Protests in Mexico”, held with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).
• In November, we accompanied the groups of women and relatives of victims of femicides in the “March of the Catrinas” (San Cristobal de Las Casas), with the aim of demanding justice for the victims of feminicide and highlighting violence against women.
• In November, we participated in the XIII Assembly of the Movement in Defense of Land, Territory and for the Participation of Women in Decision Making, which was held in the community of Acteal, municipality of Chenalho.

Internal Forced Displacement

• In November, we attended the press conference “Forced Displacement in Mexico; Result of Impunity and an Unsolved Problem”, in which displaced persons from different states of Mexico participated, at the invitation of the Agustin Prodh Center and the Jose Maria Morelos y Pavon Human Rights Defense Center from Guerrero.

Indigenous Peoples

• In October, we attended the presentation of the report “Prior Consultation: Analysis of Regulations as an Instrument in the Interaction between States and Indigenous Peoples”, prepared by the organization Project of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (PRODESC).

Human Rights Defenders and Freedom of Expression

• In August, we participated in the conference in which the Cerezo Committee Mexico organization presented the “Tenth Report Defending Human Rights in Mexico: Without Truth and Without Justice There Is No Transformation”, which reflects human rights violations (HRV) committed by the Mexican State against human rights defenders during the period from June 1^st, 2020, to May 31^st, 2021.
• In October, we attended the press conference that was held in San Cristobal de Las Casas a year after the repression and criminalization of the protest against the installation of a National Guard barracks and the subsequent militarization of Chilon, in which the end of the criminal proceedings started against Cesar Hernandez Feliciano and Jose Luis Gutierrez Hernandez, who were detained in this context, was again demanded.

Land and territory

• In August, we participated in the meting “Access to Information, Megaprojects and Human Rights in Southern Mexico”, which was carried out by the PODER organization in San Cristobal de Las Casas, in which they conducted two investigations on the Maya Train Project and the Tehuantepec Isthmus Interoceanic Corridor.
• In October, we attended the round table organized by the Network of People Affected by Mining (REMA), on the case of Mariano Abarca.
• In October, we co-facilitated the Mother Earth Pastoral Encounter, which was held in Teopisca with the participation of the different pastoral areas of the diocese of San Cristobal de Las Casas.
• In October, we participated in the XII Regional Forum for the Transformation of Socio-Environmental Conflicts in Latin America “The Escazú Agreement: Powerful instrument or Paper Tiger?” convened by the Civic Collaboration Center (CCC), among others.

Events

• In September, we attended the press conference “Suspended Dreams. Falsification of Evidence by the Justice System in Chiapas”, in which the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Center for Human Rights (Frayba) indicated the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) and the Chiapas State Prosecutor’s Office (FGECH) as being “accomplices in falsifying evidence” in the case of Yonny Ronay Chacon Gonzalez, who in 2019 was illegally detained and tortured.
• In October, we participated in an space for analysis with various organizations with a presence in the municipality of Chilon, to share information and reflections on the reality of that area.
• In October, we attended the presentation of “A Tool for Policy Makers to Adopt Effective and Non-violent Strategies for Sustainable Peace”, produced by Pax Christi International.
• In October, we were at the event in which Assessment for Peace Services (Servicios y Asesoría para la Paz – SERAPAZ) presented its report “On the Road to Peace 2019-2020”.
• In August and November, we participated in a space for analysis on security in San Cristobal de Las Casas, which was attended by several civil organizations with a presence in that city.
• Invited by the Vicariate for Justice and Peace, in August, September and October, we participated 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 of Pantelho).

OAXACA

• In August, we attended the presentation of the report “Prolonged Detention of Human Rights Defenders” prepared by Oaxaca Consortium.
• In November, we attended the Meeting in Defense of Our Natural and Communal Assets The Isthmus Is Ours, convened by the Assembly of Peoples of the Isthmus in Defense of Land and Territory (APIIDTT) and other members of the National Indigenous Council in the community of Jalapa de Marquez on the Tehuantepec Isthmus.

INFORMATION AND TRAINING TOWARDS ACTION

PUBLIC RELATIONS

• In August, we held an online meeting with the Belgian ambassador to Mexico to express our concern about the escalation of violence in the state of Chiapas.
• In September, we attended a meeting called by the Foreign Ministry on the Mexico-European Union Global Agreement.
• In October, we participated in the VI Regional Forum on Business and Human Rights for Latin America and the Caribbean, convened by the United Nations, among others.
• In November, we participated in a meeting with Ambassadors from the European Union as part of their visit to Chiapas.

EDUCATION FOR PEACE

• In August, together with the Swedish Movement for Reconciliation (SweFOR), we facilitated a workshop on Risk Analysis and Security with the Impacto organization.
• In October, we offered a context presentation with the new collaborators from the German Welthaus program, at the beginning of a year of volunteering in Chiapas.
• In October we participated with a presentation on the human rights situation in Mexico, in a course on Active Non-Violence convened in Sweden by SweFOR.
• In November, we facilitated part of the Meeting of Builders and Constructors of Peace and Reconciliation convened by the Commission for Reconciliation and Community Unity (CORECO) in the municipality of La Independencia, Border Area of ​​Chiapas.
• In November, we facilitated a space for analysis with the team of pastoral agents from the Southeast area of ​​the diocese of San Cristobal de Las Casas.
• In November, we gave a background presentation with human rights defenders at the invitation of the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Center for Human Rights.

INTERNAL TRAINING

• Throughout 2021, a member of our team participated in the training space on Positive Conflict Transformation SERAPAZ “Peace School”.
• A member of the team attends a course on Active Non-Violence (NOVA), facilitated by the International Center for Non-Violent Conflicts.

NETWORKING

• We attend 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 August, we participated in an online meeting of the French Committee for Civil Peace Intervention in which we were partners of several projects financed by Non-Violence XXI.
• In September, we had a face-to-face meeting of our partners that participated in the “Latin America Project, Between Violence and Hope – Phase III: Accompaniment of Communities in Non-violent Resistance to Extractivism”, coordinated by Pax Christi International.
• In September, we participated 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.
• In September, we participated in a Forum on conflict in Chiapas, convened by the Global Platform for the Prevention of Armed Conflicts (GPPAC), among others.
• In October, we co-facilitated the IV Online Meeting on Peacebuilding, an event that was convened by GPPAC, among others.
• In November, we participated with a presentation in the online meeting for the community that works on Non-Violent Civil Protection and Accompaniment, organized, among others, by Non-Violent Peace Force.