Three UN human rights experts on Wednesday urged [statement] Mexican authorities to support human rights groups who are facing extreme criticism in national media. UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders [official website] Michel Forst said that the Mexican government [UN backgrounder] should recognize that the defense of human rights is a legitimate national interest and serves to strengthen the stability of the nation as a whole. The statement comes on the heels of recent media criticism of national human rights organizations, non-profit organizations, and international human rights organizations which has served to decrease the climate for the promotion and protecting of human rights in the country.

Mexico has received criticism from multiple human rights organizations for its handling of human rights abuses, as forced disappearances and military violence have come to international attention. In 2015 Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] reported [press release] that there is evidence of recent unlawful police killings in Mexico. The report suggests that police action which left eight civilians dead in the city of Apatzingán on January 6, and 42 civilians and one police officer dead in Tanhuato on May 22 was an “excessive use of force against unarmed civilians.” That same year, the Miguel Agustin Pro human rights center [official website] in Mexico announced that there is evidence that high-ranking Mexican officers gave soldiers orders to kill criminals prior to an army mass slaying of suspected cartel members in June 2014. In 2013 the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial summary or arbitrary executions, Christof Heyns [official website], urged Mexico’s government [JURIST report] to better protect against human rights abuses, specifically with respect to the military’s use of force against civilians.