At the present moment, PBI’s team in Oaxaca officially accompanies four human rights organisations. However, PBI also follows the security situation of the following organisations very closely, and has provided support to many of them on occasions.

• Services for an Alternative Education (Servicios para una Educación Alternativa A.C., Educa)
• Consortium for Parliamentary Dialogue and Equity Oaxaca (Consorcio para el Diálogo Parlamentario y la Equidad Oaxaca)
• Oaxacan Collective in Defence of the Territories (Colectivo Oaxaqueño en Defensa de Los Territorios)
• Centre of Orientation for Migrantes in Oaxaca (Centro de Orientación del Migrante de Oaxaca, A.C., COMI)

The following organisations have received the accompaniment of PBI in Oaxaca State in the past:

Accompaniment of the 25th of November Liberation Committee in 2009 and 2010

The 25th of November Liberation Committee (Comité de Liberación 25 de Noviembre) formed in 2006 as an independent initiative by human rights defenders in response to the human rights violations which took place in the context of the actions of the security forces and the Oaxacan State and Mexican Federal Governments, during the social protests of 2006 and 2007 in Oaxaca. The Committee’s name refers to the detention and imprisonment of 139 people, torture many more, and raids of homes that took place on November 25 2006.

PBI provided accompaniment to the organisation from December 2009 until December 2010, when the Committee dissolved in order to form a new organisation, Código-DH, which is currently accompanied by PBI. The Committee first requested international accompaniment due to the worrying threats and attacks which its members were suffering due to their work in giving legal advice and defence to the victims of human rights abuses, and for their actions in promoting access to justice and fighting against the impunity which surrounded the crimes attributed to public officials in Oaxaca.

For more information on the 25th of November Liberation Committee, see also:

• Interview with Juan Manuel Martínez Moreno: <media 6693>Entrevista 19: Threats and harassment against Juan Manuel Martínez Moreno and family</media>.
• Interview with Alba Cruz, 25th of November Liberation Committee lawyer, about the Juan Manuel Martínez Moreno case: <media 3556>Entrevista 4: Justice for Juan Manuel</media>.

Accompaniment of Flor y Canto in 2010

In 2010 the Flor y Canto Centre for Indigenous Rights (Centro de Derechos Indígenas Flor y Canto A.C) organised a Civil Observation Mission, with the aim of documenting the grave problems of the scarcity of water, and the contamination of rivers, streams, wells and crop fields, as well as the exploitation of water by transnational companies. According to reports, these problems in the region have provoked the violation of the economic, social, cultural and environmental rights of the campesino and indigenous communities in the districts of Ocotlán de Morelos and Zimatlán de Álvarez. PBI provided a short-term accompaniment to Flor y Canto and to the Coordination of the United Peoples for the Defence of the Water (Coordinadora de Pueblos Unidos por la Defensa del Agua) in this Civil Observation Mission, called “Water is life, we defend its existence”, in August 2010.

Accompaniment of Radio Calenda in 2007

At the request of the Mexican Commission for the Promotion and Defence of Human Rights and the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters, the PBI Mexico team provided international accompaniment to members of Radio Calenda reporting on the 2007 elections. From when they first began their broadcasting work, the Radio Calenda team were victims of harassment and death threats. Due to this situation, in February 2007 the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights granted precautionary measures for Radio Calenda's members.

Accompaniment of the Oaxacan Human Rights Network in 2007

On the 14th July 2007, after the attempted eviction undertaken by the State government to end the protests by state school teachers in the main square in Oaxaca, the Oaxacan Human Rights Network (Red Oaxaqueña de Derechos Humanos, RODH) requested that PBI visit the city. PBI's objective was to review the human rights situation and the security conditions for civil organisations. In September 2007, PBI accompanied a civil observation mission which aimed to observe the human rights situation in the state of Oaxaca and document violations. PBI accompanied different members of the RODH during their observation activities as a mechanism to guarantee their security.