Amid an ongoing human rights crisis in Mexico, NHRF supports human rights defenders working on access to justice for victims of human rights abuses and protection of human rights defenders at risk, as well as land and environmental rights defenders, many of them indigenous. Mexico has been a priority country since 2015.

NHRF supports the work of 10 grantee partners in Mexico. These organisations support and accompany hundreds of human rights defenders (HRDs) who face risks and aggressions for the work they are doing, so that they can continue to work despite these ongoing threats, as well as more than 35 local communities organising for the defence of their land and environmental rights in Mexico.

Protection of human rights defenders at risk

Mexico is one of the countries in the world with the most killings of human rights defenders. NHRF supports the The National Network of Civil Human Rights Organizations "All Rights for All"(Red TDT), consisting of 87 local human rights organisations all around Mexico, and their work to protect HRDs at risk through urgent actions, legal support, media campaigns and awareness raising, mutual support networks, and joint advocacy efforts.

Many of NHRF grantee partners in Mexico have psychosocial support and security for their staff as well as for the target groups on their agenda. This includes reflection and action on both self-care and collective care. Our grantee partner Aluna Acompañamiento Psicosocial supports many organisations and HRDs in the country with their model of psychosocial accompaniment, including several NHRF grantee partners, and is strengthening the capacity of managing these themes within other organisations.

Access to justice for marginalised groups and communities at risk

NHRF supports seven organisations working to promote access to justice for organised rural communities at risk, all of them women-led, and most of them indigenous and defending against rights violations in the context of big economic interests. The organisation Tequio Jurídico defends indigenous peoples’ rights in the state of Oaxaca, providing legal advice and support in land rights cases for 11 local communities, supporting the participation of women indigenous leaders, as well as continued legal action against destructive extractive projects in the region, including successfully discontinuing a damaging mining project.

Boca de Polen is a network of journalists and community communicators working to promote the rights of indigenous groups in the state of Chiapas, in the southeast of the country, through the promotion of the operation of their own media. Consultoría Técnica Comunitaria A.C. (CONTEC) and Alianza Sierra Madre A.C. (ASMAC) support Indigenous communities in Mexico’s Sierra Tarahumara, where land and resource exploitation have caused severe human rights abuses amid widespread violence. ASMAC works closely with the Rarámuri and Ódami peoples and has brought international attention to their struggles, leading to a favourable ruling from the Inter-American Human Rights Court.