SIPAZ Activities (From mid-May to mid-August 2022)

INTERNATIONAL PRESENCE AND ACCOMPANIMENT

CHIAPAS

Internal Forced Displacement

• In July, we attended the press conference organized by the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Center for Human Rights (Frayba), within the framework of the visit of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), which included the participation of the Commissioner and Rapporteur for Mexico, Esmeralda Elizabeth Arosemena Bernal de Troitiño, and the Executive Secretary, Tania Reneaum Panszi, in order to supervise compliance with the precautionary measures granted to 22 indigenous Tsotsil communities of Chiapas, from the municipalities of Aldama, Chalchihuitan and Chenalho.
• In July, we met with members of the UNHCHR to update the situation regarding forced displacement in Chiapas.
• In August, we participated in several meetings to prepare for the visit of the UN Special Rapporteur on Forced Displacement, Cecilia Jimenez-Damary, scheduled for September.

Human Rights Defenders

• In June, we attended the discussion organized by the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Center for Human Rights in which it denounced the criminalization and fabrication of crimes against indigenous Tseltal human rights defenders from San Juan Cancuc.
• In June, we accompanied as observers the pilgrimage that took place in front of San Cristobal prison to demand the release of five Tzeltal indigenous people from Cancuc, including Manuel Santiz Cruz, president of the team of promoters of the parish there and a servant of the diocese.
• In June, we were present at the press conference in which the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Center for Human Rights announced the decision to temporarily suspend the Civil Observation Brigades (BriCO) installed in the Zapatista community of Nuevo San Gregorio due to the death threats that national and international observers present there have received.
• In June, we were present as observers accompanying Las Abejas de Acteal Civil Society Organization and the relatives of Simon Pedro Perez Lopez in the framework of the second hearing in the case of the murder of the human rights defender.
• In August, we attended the press conference held within the framework of the 13^th anniversary of the release of the perpetrators of the Acteal Massacre by the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation.

Land and territory

• In August, we attended the online seminar “Who finances and supports extractive companies?” convened by JASS (Just Associates).
• In August, we attended the discussion in which the “Pronouncement against the Zapatista Communities/19^th Anniversary of the Caracoles of the EZLN“ was presented, convened by AJMAQ, the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Human Rights Center, as well as Women of the Sixth among others.

Gender

• In June, we accompanied the March for the rights of the LGTBI+ population, which took place in San Cristobal de Las Casas on Pride Day.
• In August, we accompanied the rally that took place in front of the Palace of Justice of Los Altos de Chiapas, in San Cristobal de Las Casas, to demand the immediate release of Marisela Lopez Bautista, who was sentenced in 2019 to 25 years in prison for qualified homicide when she was defending herself from her partner who tried to kill her and her children.

Youth

• In June, we attended the inauguration of the “Community Learning Center”, a space that we promote as an organization for the benefit of youth, in Chalam, Mitontic at the invitation of Youth Netwroking Territories C.A.
• In August, we participated in some activities organized within the framework of the International Youth Day in San Cristobal de Las Casas.

Migration

• In July, we held a meeting with HIAS, a non-profit organization that provides comprehensive services to people on the move in Mexico, which recently opened offices in San Cristobal de Las Casas.

Events

• In May, we participated in the event that took place to change the coordination of the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Center for Human Rights (Frayba).
• In June, we were at the press conference held by partners of the Civil Service for Peace at the end of their 2022 meeting, Collectively Building Paths to Peace with Justice, in which they shared their concern about the human rights situation, particularly before in the increase in violence in the case of Chiapas.
• In July, SIPAZ accompanied the pilgrimages that took place in the upper Tseltal and Chol area of ​​the diocese of San Cristobal de Las Casas. They were carried out simultaneously in all the pastoral zones, organized by Believing People one year after the assassination of the defender and former leader of the Abejas de Acteal, Simon Pedro, and, in the midst of the growing violence and the constant criminalization and persecution of which those who defend territory and human rights in the state are victims of.
• In July, we were present at the celebrations that took place within the framework of the 50^th anniversary of the San Pedro y San Pablo de Chicomuselo parish and in which they commemorated their work in the promotion of rights, the defense of territory and the peacebuilding.
• In July, we attended the International Seminar on Disarmament convened by the Alliance for Disarmament in the promotion of a Latin American and Caribbean context committed to the construction of peace and justice “setting positions before the debate regarding the possession of weapons in the hands of the civil society with all the consequences that it implies.”
• In July, we participated in the events organized within the framework of the 25th anniversary of the episcopal consecration of Don Rodrigo Aguilar Martinez, current bishop of San Cristobal de Las Casas.
• In August, we participated in the assembly of Believing People in San Cristobal de Las Casas.

OAXACA

• In June, we held a meeting with the director of Services for Alternative Education for Peace (EDUCA), one of our partners in Oaxaca.
• In June, we met with members of the Consortium for Parliamentary Dialogue and Equity and the University of the Earth (Unitierra)-Oaxaca as part of a visit to Chiapas.

INFORMATION AND TRAINING FOR ACTION

DELEGATIONS and TOURS

• In May, we received a delegation of people from the United States and Canada belonging to the leadership of the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) in those countries.
• In July, we also did this with a group of young people from the MCC who were participating in a week of service in Chiapas.
• In August, we met with members of the Missionary Week and the parish of Sint Laurentinusparochie in Hoogkarspel in the Netherlands.

PUBLIC RELATIONS

• In July, we signed a statement from several national and international organizations to request follow-up on recommendations on Human Rights that were made within the framework of the Tenth High-Level Dialogue with the European Union, in Brussels, Belgium.
• In July, we signed a statement by various national and international CSOs condemning the criminalization of Father Marcelo Perez, Tsotsil defender of life and promoter of peace.

EDUCATION FOR PEACE

MAY

• We carried out a workshop on risk analysis and security protocols with the migrant center of San Cristobal de Las Casas.
• We shared an analysis of the situation during a meeting of 48 communities belonging to the parish of Altamirano, in the Selva Lacandona in which 130 people participated.
• We did the same in the Estrella region, belonging to the parish of Ocosingo, another ravine in the Selva Lacandona, which had the participation of 80 people.
• Together with the organization Sursiendo and the Guardian Project, we held a workshop with civil organizations from Chiapas on different digital tools that can improve their level of security and protection. The next day, we did the same with journalists and communicators from Chiapas and Oaxaca.

JUNE

• We held a workshop on risk analysis and security protocols with the “A help for you, migrant woman” center in Tuxtla Gutierrez.
• We facilitated a two-day workshop on security and protection with Peace and Reconciliation builders from the Commission for Reconciliation and Community Unity (CORECO) from various areas of the state.

AUGUST

• We carried out a context analysis with new members of the German volunteer program, Welthaus.
• We did the same with members of the German organization, CAREA, who were in Chiapas to participate in the Civil Observation Brigades (BriCOs), coordinated by the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Center for Human Rights (Frayba).
• We carried out a context analysis with women artisans from the organization “Mujeres de Maíz” (Women of Corn).

INTERNAL TRAINING

• In June, we participated in a two-day workshop facilitated by ALUNA, a civil society organization that, from a psychosocial approach, contributes to strengthening people and organizations affected by socio-political violence so that they continue their work in defense of human rights in Mexico. It was addressed to organizations and players that work in Chiapas.
• In August, we started an online training on Women, Peace and Security in the Americas coordinated by the Inter-American Commission of Women (CAM).
• Likewise, in August, we participated in the first module of the Diploma in Positive Transformation of Conflicts organized by the Commission to Support Community Unity and Reconciliation (CORECO) in San Cristobal de Las Casas.

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 with our partners that participated in the “Latin America, Between Violence and Hopes Project – Phase III: Accompaniment of Communities in Non-violent Resistance against Extractivism”, coordinated by Pax Christi International.
• In July, we attended a meeting with representatives of the pastoral areas that are part of the Follow-up Commission of the Congress of Mother Earth, a component of the social pastoral of the diocese of San Cristobal de Las Casas.
• In July, we participated in a virtual meeting of our partners that make up the Platform for Peace in Mexico.
• In August, we were at a work meeting for Peace and Human Rights that included the participation of Mexican and European organizations.