Mexico:review for the first time by the United Nations Human Rights Council

9 February 2009
ARTICLE 19 Submits Report on Freedom of Expression in Mexico to the United Nations Universal Periodic Review

On the occasion of the fourth session of the Universal Periodic Review, which will examine Mexico for the first time, ARTICLE 19 submitted a report to the human rights council on the situation of freedom of expression, and the issue of impunity in the country.

Mexico will be reviewed for the first time by the United Nations Human Rights Council in the fourth session of the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva on Tuesday February 10th. The Review has been created as a mechanism to assess the situation of human rights in all member states. In the context of the mounting threats to freedom of expression in Mexico, ARTICLE 19 has submitted a report on the situation of the exercise of the right to Freedom of Expression. Mexico is currently considered one of the most dangerous countries in the world to practice journalism. In recent years the country has experienced an ever increasing number of cases of threats and violence against journalists. Of these crimes almost none have been brought to justice. ARTICLE19 considers the impunity that is allowed to prevail in the state as one of the most serious threats, not only to the right to freedom of expression but to all human rights. In the report published by ARTICLE19 the following conclusions are drawn on the major threats to freedom of expression in Mexico.
· The failure to address the impunity that currently prevails in the state is born out of lack of political will.
· In the past eight years at least twenty four journalists and media workers have been killed, eight are missing, and many more have been threatened and physically attacked in the practice of their profession
· The Office of the Special Prosecutor for Crimes against journalists is in urgent need of reform, to strengthen and clarify its faculties.
· In spite of the fact that a number of new groups of perpetrators of crimes against journalists have emerged in the past few years, the authorities remain the principal aggressors of crimes against journalists and freedom of expression in Mexico.

NOTES TO EDITORS:
• To see full text please visit: http://www.article19.org/pdfs/publications/report-on-the-situation-of-the-exercise-of-the-right-to-freedom-of-expressio.pdf • For more information, please contact Ricardo Gonzalez, ARTICLE 19 Mexico, at ricardo@article19.org, +55 11 30 57 00 42