Mexican human rights activists pay with their lives: UN
By DPA, IANSWednesday, May 12, 2010
GENEVA - Human rights activists in Mexico “pay with their lives”, a group of UN appointed experts said Wednesday, after the killing of two monitors in the country.
Bety Carino of Mexico and Tyri Antero Jaakkola of Finland were part of a mission to monitor human rights in the Oaxaca region when they were ambushed by paramilitaries and killed April 27, a joint statement said. Other rights workers and journalists suffered injuries in the attack.
The warning was released by Margaret Sekaggya, the special rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders; Philip Alston, the expert on executions; James Anaya, the envoy for indigenous people; and Frank la Rue, the special rapporteur on freedom of expression.
“Defenders continue to face significant threats to their lives in Mexico as a result of their work,” Sekaggya said.
Saying they were “deeply concerned” by the situation, the group called on Mexico to better protect human rights activists and investigate the incident.
A similar appeal to the Mexican government was sent last week by Amnesty International, which noted that in April 2008 two indigenous journalists were killed in the country but no one was found guilty in the incident.
