A group of civil society organizations is demanding greater safety and protection for journalists and human rights activists in Mexico, especially in the eastern and northern regions of the country where the most aggression occurs, reported the newspaper La Jornada.
In a petition sent to the Mexican government, the groups called for the creation of a special "mechanism of protection" as the government's strategies are so far ineffective, according to the news agency EFE.
Aggression against journalists have become a constant in the states of Chihuahua and Coahuila, along the border with the United States, and Morelos, south of Mexico City, where drug trafficking violence is concentrated.
Some of the most well-known organizations in the country are among those complaining about the violence and lack of protection, including the World Association of Community Radios, the National Center of Social Communication (CENCOS), the Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez Center for Human Rights and the Mexican Commission for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights.
See here a letter and petition the organizations sent the Mexican government. For more information about threats against journalists in Mexico, see this Knight Center map.
Note from the editor: This story was originally published by the Knight Center’s blog Journalism in the Americas, the predecessor of LatAm Journalism Review.
