November 23, 1999
November 23, 1999
Contact HRF Communications (212) 845 5245 media@humanrightsfirst.orgMexican Authorities Ordered to Ensure Safety of Human Rights Lawyers
Inter-American Court Issues "Protective Measures" Decision
Following Recent Attack of Digna OchoaNew York--The Inter-American Court of Human Rights, the highest-level human rights body of the Organization of American States based in San José, Costa Rica, announced yesterday that it has ordered the Mexican State to adopt measures to protect four human rights lawyers at Mexico City’s Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez Human Rights Center (PRODH). Human Rights First, along with several other Mexican and international human rights organizations, had petitioned the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to exercise its faculty to request that the Court issue such an order.
The Court based its decision on the series of linked attacks and threats which PRODH legal director, Digna Ochoa, and other PRODH staff have faced over the last three months. The most recent of these took place on October 28 and 29 when Ms Ochoa was attacked in her home, rendered unconscious, blindfolded and tied to a chair, and then subjected to a prolonged all-night interrogation on PRODH activities by at least two unidentified individuals. PRODH offices, which received several written death threats and were broken into on several occasions recently, were again broken into the same night.
The Court ordered the Mexican Government "to adopt, without delay, all measures necessary" to protect the life and safety of Digna Ochoa, as well as PRODH director Edgar Cortéz Morales and lawyers Mario Patrón Sánchez y Jorge Fernández Mendiburu. The Court also ordered the State to investigate the threats and attacks against the PRODH in order to identify and sanction the perpetrators. The State will be required to report periodically on the measures it has taken to comply with this Court order.
The decision of the Inter-American Court marks the first time that Mexico has been brought before this international tribunal. Mexico accepted the jurisdiction of the Court in December of 1998. The decisions of the Court are fully binding in nature. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights issues protective measures only in "cases of extreme gravity and urgency, and when necessary to avoid irreparable damage to persons," pursuant to Article 63 of the American Convention on Human Rights.
"Mexican authorities have been promising for some time that threats and attacks would be fully investigated and PRODH staff protected," said Human Rights First Protection Director Robert O. Varenik. "Yet, we have not yet seen any significant advances in the investigation and the PRODH staff is still in danger. We hope that the Court’s order will prompt Mexican authorities to take effective steps to ensure the safety of the human rights defenders at the PRODH."