At a Human Rights Council general debate on racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related forms of intolerance, Racismo MX and ISHR delivered a joint statement on systemic racism and the invisibility of Afro-descendants and Indigenous peoples in Mexico.
UN committee releases findings on socio-economic rights in China, calling for a clear regulatory framework for companies operating overseas. Prior to China's review, ISHR and the CICDHA coalition submitted a report looking at the human rights impact of 14 Chinese projects in 9 Latin American countries.
This report submitted to the UN explores 14 business ventures in Latin America in which companies and banks under China's jurisdiction have not complied with international human rights, labour and environmental standards.
UN experts are calling on Mexico to rethink the ‘Tren Maya’ trainline project to ensure that rigorous environmental checks and meaningful consultations are carried out and human rights defenders protected.
"We try to defend happiness from a principle of reality," says Donovan Ortega, working at the Fray Francisco de Vitoria Human Rights Center in Mexico.
10 years after the first SOGI resolution was passed at the Council, 27 States launch the Group of Friends of the mandate of the UN Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Tess McEvoy from ISHR and Gabriel Galil from ILGA World tell the story.
Building back better requires new sustainable production systems. However, energy transition should not be encouraged at the expense of human rights or harm to local communities. The transition towards renewable energy sources has become a threat to human rights, with increasing attacks to human rights defenders.
Mexican journalist, Sergio Aguayo Quezada, was heavily fined for reporting on the corruption of a former government official. ISHR joined other NGOs in an amicus brief to the court emphasizing the need to protect journalists’ right to freedom of expression.
“After Covid, we will have learnt many things, and one of them is health: to take care of ourselves and value our body more, to find a way to take care of ourselves in a natural and organic manner”.
The 'Mayan Train', a touristic train cutting across numerous areas of rich environmental and cultural diversity in Eastern Mexico, may sound like a fancy development project. But what the shiny brochure doesn't display are the terrible consequences for the indigenous communities who call this area home, and for the environment. Six UN experts have addressed those in a letter to the Government, raising expectations of a meaningful commitment by Mexico, as a re-elected member of the Human Rights Council, to address human rights concerns and protect defenders.
