(AMARC/IFEX) – In light of the increasing threats and attacks on community radio stations in Mexico, on 16 February 2007, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IAHCR), of the Organisation of American States (OAS), urged the Mexican government to take every measure necessary to ensure the safety of community radio workers and to protect their […]
(AMARC/IFEX) – In light of the increasing threats and attacks on community radio stations in Mexico, on 16 February 2007, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IAHCR), of the Organisation of American States (OAS), urged the Mexican government to take every measure necessary to ensure the safety of community radio workers and to protect their right to life and to freedom of expression. These stations are members of AMARC.
Following the 24 and 25 January attacks on the staff of the station Radio Calenda, by the deposed president of the municipal council of San Antonino de Velasco Castillo, AMARC-Mexico and the Mexican Commission for the Defence and Promotion of Human Rights (Comisión Mexicana de Defensa y Promoción de los Derechos Humanos, CMDPDH) requested, on behalf of the victims that the IAHCR advocate measures to protect the targets of these attacks.
The measures for which the IAHCR is now calling are in addition to the ones they previously urged in the case of radio station Voladora Radio, which suffered similar attacks in August 2006 for its journalistic work.
The IAHCR called for certain protective measures in September 2006, but given that the threats and attacks have continued, it called for intensified protective measures in January 2007. To date, investigations into these incidents have not resulted in any corrective action, and the protection being provided has proven insufficient.
The attacks on both Radio Calenda and Voladora Radio underline the situation of increasing violence against community radio stations and staff in Mexico. Meanwhile, since August 2006, the station Radio Nandía in Oaxaca has been closed without justification by authorities belonging to the Institutional Revolutionary Party (Partido Revolucionario Institucional, PRI) (see IFEX alert of 31 August 2006).
AMARC and the CMDPDH urge the Mexican government to fulfil its obligation to defend its citizens’ human by implementing the measures called for by the IAHCR and taking all steps needed to protect the workers of Radio Calenda and of Voladora Radio, and to ensure the re-opening of Radio Nandía.
