Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador promised when he was elected in 2018 to determine the truth about one of the country’s most infamous unresolved atrocities: the 2014 kidnapping and enforced disappearance of 43 student teachers. Instead, he has allowed his allies in the military to obstruct the investigation by hiding key evidence that experts believe could contain clues about what happened to the students. President López Obrador should use his authority to make the army release the evidence it has from the night the students disappeared. And Mexico's friends and allies should urge the president to keep his word and ensure there is a credible investigation into the students' disappearance.

Some of the images in this video, including the landscapes, were generated by AI technology. The Escazu agreement is designed to protect biodiversity and environmental defenders in Latin America and the Caribbean. The treaty, adopted in 2018 in Costa Rica, guarantees people’s right to obtain environmental information and to participate in decision-making that affects their lives and environment. It requires countries to ensure access to justice when those rights are violated, and to establish systems to prevent environmental harm or provide redress. It is the world’s first legally binding instrument containing specific provisions on environmental defenders – requiring governments to provide safe and enabling conditions for the defenders and ensuring that those responsible for violence and intimidation against them are investigated and prosecuted. Upholding the rights established in the Escazú agreement could contribute hugely to reversing the cycle of violence and environmental destruction in the Amazon, Human Rights Watch said.       

As leaders meet in LA, HRW releases a new report on how US policies like Title 42 are driving abuses against asylum seekers in Mexico. Experts will discuss the report and what they expect to come out of the summit.

Asylum seekers sent to Mexico by the administration of former US president Donald Trump have suffered violence and extortion by Mexican police, immigration agents, and criminal groups. Since January 2019, the United States has effectively closed its southern border to asylum seekers, leaving many to face abuses in Mexico. The Trump administration, under its Remain in Mexico program, sent more than 71,000 asylum seekers to Mexico to await asylum hearings. Additionally, since March 2020, the US has expelled more than 400,000 migrants, many to Mexico, including asylum seekers who were denied the chance to make their claims, under travel restrictions purportedly to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

The administration of United States President Joe Biden should move swiftly to ensure fair, dignified and humane treatment of asylum seekers and migrants at the border, Human Rights Watch and the Iowa City Catholic Worker said in a video released today. The video follows a family still separated after almost two years under the “Remain in Mexico” program, also known as the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP).

Central American children fleeing serious threats face formidable obstacles in applying for asylum in Mexico.

Tens of thousands of patients with terminal illnesses in Mexico suffer unnecessarily from severe pain and other symptoms because they cannot access adequate end-of-life care.

Through in-depth research in five states, Human Rights Watch documented scores of cases of disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and torture carried out by security forces. Virtually none of these cases is being adequately investigated—not in the military or civilian justice systems. Nor is the government investigating most of the 45,000-plus homicides allegedly tied to organized crime. And the impunity for these crimes has contributed to an environment of lawlessness in many parts of the country, making for a counterproductive public security strategy.