[WHRD Alert] MEXICO / Código DH temporarily closes office in Oaxaca after repeated attacks, searches, and robberies that place its members at high risk and jeopardize its human rights work.

After experiencing situations of search and seizure, the Committee for the Comprehensive Defense of Human Rights (CÓDIGO DH) announced the closure of its offices until state and national authorities guarantee the security conditions necessary for its ongoing work.

On the morning of May 27, 2024, members of CÓDIGO DH realized that the furnishings in their office located in the City of Oaxaca had been altered and that certain valuable material goods were missing.  These included computers with confidential data regarding cases of accompaniment of the organization. A few days after this first attack, a second search and seizure operation took place despite the fact that CÓDIGO DH members had denounced the attacks to the Attorney General’s Office of Oaxaca (FGEO) along with failure to comply with requirements for security and vigilance. It is important to note that notification of both attacks was sent to both the Ombudsman’s Office of Oaxaca and the Protection Mechanism for Human Rights Defenders and Journalists.  

As a result of these highly serious attacks that may well be acts of repression for their legitimate work of the defense of human rights, CÓDIGO DH members fear for their security and personal integrity. 

For more than 13 years, CÓDIGO DH has accompanied emblematic cases of torture survival, human rights defenders at risk, and women victims of violence. 

CÓDIGO DH is also a point of reference at local, state, national, and international levels for other rights defenders, collectives and peoples who have trusted it with their freedom, their struggles, and their lives. 

We of the National Network of Women Human Rights Defenders and IM-Defensoras are concerned about this grave violation of CÓDIGO DH’s work in defense of human rights. We condemn the acts of intimidation and harassment that seek to inhibit their defense work and place the integrity and security of their members and accompanists at high risk.  

We demand that competent authorities conduct an immediate, exhaustive, expeditious investigation to identify those responsible for these attacks and guarantee the right to defend rights. We also demand the implementation of precautionary measures for the protection of  CÓDIGO DH members and the security of their offices. 

Likewise, we demand an end to all threats, attacks, and acts of harassment against human rights defenders and their organizations.

Finally, we reiterate our call to all human rights organizations and the national and international community to continue to demand conditions of security for members of  CÓDIGO DH and all human rights defenders in Mexico.


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