The Integral Defence Committee for Human Rights “Gobixha” (Codigo-DH) isa civil society organisation that offers legal aid as well as psychological support and medical attention to victims of human rights violations, whilst working towards the access to justice and the fight against impunity. Codigo-DH was recently created in January 2011 but has arisen/spawn from the closure of the November 25 Liberation Committee which had previously been accompanied by PBI since the end of 2009 due to the constant threats and attacks that the staff received for their legitimate work in the defence of human rights. Despite having received precautionary measures from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) since July 2007, the aggressions against the members of Codigo-DH have not ceased, reason for which PBI continues providing international accompaniment to the organisation.

The PBI Oaxaca team has been accompanying Cedhapi's members since 2009. Founded in 2001, Cedhapi's mandate is to protect the fundamental rights of indigenous peoples. The organisation provides legal advice and denounces serious human rights violations in the Mixtec region of the state of Oaxaca.

Human rights defenders working with Cedhapi requested accompaniment due to the death threats they have received because of their legal work on the Santo Domingo Ixcatlán massacre. In April 2008 Gustavo Castañeda Martínez, Melesio Martínez Robles and Inocencio Medina Bernabé were murdered by a group of armed men with alleged links to the local authorities. The armed group has continued to harass the inhabitants of Santo Domingo Ixcatlán and for this reason 177 members of the Santo Domingo Ixcatlán community were granted precautionary measures by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in May 2008.

• Entrevista 21: Rufino Benítez Sanchez, Cedhapi Lawyer (pdf)
• Entrevista   8: Maurilio Santiago Reyes, Cedhapi Lawyer (pdf)

The Catholic priest Father Alejandro Solalinde Guerra and the team at the Hermanos en el Camino migrant shelter in Ciudad Ixtepec offer humanitarian aid to migrants who are crossing Mexican territory. The shelter is part of a national network of 54 shelters run by the Dimensión Pastoral de Movilidad Humana (DPMH), a body which is part of the Mexican Catholic Church. DPMH has 500 members and is divided into 6 regional departments. It also raises awareness of issues related to migration in Mexico.

Father Solalinde's work to defend the human rights of migrants has made him the object of attacks, slander and harassment. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights as well as the Mexican National Commission for Human Rights have granted him precautionary measures to guarantee his life and physical integrity. His work with migrants has been widely recognised within and outside Mexico; he is currently one of 11 human rights defenders selected from across the world by Amnesty International for their recent campaign Stand Up United.

• Information Sheet: Father Solalinde
• Entrevista 22: Father Solalinde (pdf)
• Documentary of Amnesty International and Gael García Bernal about migrants in Mexico and in which Father Solalinde and DPMH are players

The “Bartolome Carrasco Briseno” Regional Centre for Human Rights (Barca-DH) is a non-governmental human rights organisation that was founded from the local church community with the purpose of promoting and defending human rights in the society of Oaxaca. In October 2010, PBI accepted the request for international accompaniment with a larger focus on supporting Minerva Martinez Lazaro, coordinator of Barca-DH, and the priests Martin Octavio Garcia Ortiz and Wilfrido Mayren Pelaez (more commonly known as Father Uvi), who are both board members of the organisation.

Since Barca-DH was established in 1992, the NGO has constantly faced surveillance, threats, and defamation campaigns as well as recently on various occasions, direct attacks and judicial proceedings against it for its work in the promotion, defence and education in human rights. Moreover, Barca-DH is leading an international campaign for the release of Alvaro Sebastian Ramirez, prisoner from the Loxicha region, and carrying out other human rights projects with communities in the Sierra Sur and Central Valleys regions of Oaxaca. The coordinator of Barca-DH, Minerva Martinez Lazaro, has faced numerous risks and threats for the work in these high-profile cases, as well as for her work together with Father Martin and Father Uvi and her participation in the Oaxacan Collective for the Defence of Territories.

Father Uvi, a recognised human rights defender in Oaxaca for his work in the pacification of different conflicts, is currently one of the driving forces of the negotiation table in San Juan Copala which seeks to find a peaceful resolution between the different parts of the conflict. For his work, he has suffered, amongst other abuses, harassment, threats and defamation for many years. Father Martin, for his part, has centred his work in supporting the communities of San Jose del Progreso that are resisting the exploitation of gold and silver from mines owned by the company Cuzcatlan. After a defamation campaign was held against him and having received severe harassment, the priest denounced having been attacked in June 2010. A few days later, he was detained and accused of the killing of two people during a confrontation in San Jose del Progreso. Subsequently, he was released without charges but has not received compensation for the abuses and violations that he suffered.

• Information sheet: Barca-DH