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	Horrific violence by gangs exposes communities to multiple human rights violations by The Nation, OHCHR, agencies   Why are so many Mexican Mayors getting Murdered?, by Oscar Lopez. (The Nation)   The five assassins arrived on a warm Sunday morning in June, riding motorcycles and dressed all in black. They burst into the lime-green building that serves as the city hall of San Mateo Pinas, a small town in the lush hills of Oaxaca state in southern Mexico. They fired 60 rounds in six minutes: Afterward, the mayor, Lilia Gema García Soto, lay dead. The killers then roared off again, vanishing into the emerald hillsides.   Soto was the first woman elected to the post and had vowed to root out the corruption that had plagued this village of some 2,000 people.   Among the motives being investigated for García’s killing is a federal complaint she had filed for the alleged siphoning off of about $1.25 million in hurricane relief funds by her predecessor. “She was a woman who always acted with integrity, with honesty,” said her son, Oscar Velasquez García, at her funeral. “She never gave in to blackmail, never played into the games of the corrupt, and that’s why they took these cowardly actions against her.”   Whatever the reason for García’s assassination, her murder is part of a horrifying national trend: Being a mayor in Mexico is increasingly tantamount to a death wish. Between the country’s extreme levels of generalized violence, as well as the growing involvement of powerful cartels in local politics, democracy in Mexico has become a deadly battlefield—and mayors are on the front lines.   A recent report by the watchdog group Armed Conflict Location & Event Data named Mexico as the world’s most dangerous country for local elected officials, with 342 violent incidents reported in 2024. And there were 50 politically motivated killings in just the first three months of 2025, according to consulting firm Integralia.   García was one of eight mayors murdered across the country since October. Among them was Alejandro Arcos, mayor of Chilpancingo, a state capital, whose decapitated head was found on top of a white pickup truck, less than a week after he took office. And that doesn’t include the assassination in May of two top aides to the mayor of Mexico City, arguably the most powerful politician in the country after the president.   Even just running for office can be deadly: The week before the Mexico City murders, a mayoral candidate in the state of Veracruz was gunned down alongside four other people, including her own daughter. Throughout the 2024 election cycle, 18 mayoral candidates or aspiring candidates were assassinated.   Meanwhile, during former President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s term, at least 87 mayors, former mayors, and mayoral candidates were killed. Although President Claudia Sheinbaum has made security a top priority of her administration and vowed to investigate some individual killings, such as that of Arcos, she has not specifically addressed the epidemic of mayoral assassinations.   “Democracy in Mexico is corroding. It’s being destroyed in many parts of the country,” said Eduardo Guerrero, a Mexican security analyst. “The electoral system is being perverted and corrupted.”   Untangling the reasons behind this surge in slayings is complex. Firstly, there is the generalized wave of cartel-fueled violence that has overtaken Mexico in recent decades, with public officials sometimes caught in the crossfire.   In 2023, there were more than 31,000 murders in Mexico. That’s a homicide rate over four times higher than in the United States. Making matters worse is Mexico’s abysmally weak criminal justice system, where only one in 10 murder investigations results in a conviction.   “Unfortunately, we’ve been in a situation for years where killing someone is seen as relatively easy,” said Cecilia Farfan-Mendez, head of the North American observatory at the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime. “There’s no real punishment for murder.”   Taking out a political rival, or silencing an anti-corruption crusader like García, becomes child’s play, because would-be assassins know that, in all likelihood, they will get away with it, especially at the municipal level where police forces are often corrupt and underfunded.   Yet the specific targeting of elected officials points to something more sinister: Namely, the involvement of organized crime in local politics.   In recent years, Mexican cartels have become extraordinarily powerful, controlling up to a third of the country, according to the US military. Maintaining this level of territorial dominance requires control not just of major highways but also of the backroads and dirt tracks where drugs and cartel foot soldiers can more easily pass undetected.   “You hear of municipalities where there isn’t even police, where these organizations come and go as they please,” said Saulo Davila, senior consultant at Integralia. “Criminal organizations understand that they have to control the municipality…that’s going to guarantee that they can operate with much greater freedom.”   Cartels have also diversified their criminal portfolio beyond the drug trade, turning to more localized forms of criminal enterprise, such as extortion, fuel theft, and illegal logging.   This requires cooperation from local officials to either look the other way as cartels go about their business or, in some cases, to actively support them, including in the form of lucrative government contracts that are awarded to criminal groups. Mayors who refuse to cooperate end up becoming targets.   “Political violence is aimed at political actors who prove to be a hindrance to dominant criminal organizations,” said Guerrero, the security analyst. “Mayors in many regions of the country have to ask permission from criminal capos about state spending on important infrastructure projects that the municipality wants to undertake.”   Take the city of Iguala, in Guerrero state, one of Mexico’s most violent. Well-known for being the site where 43 students were violently disappeared in 2014, it remains deeply entangled with organized crime.   According to a 2021 Mexican military memo uncovered by the Guacamayas hacker group and obtained by The Nation, the mayor of Iguala at the time had received death threats from organized crime, but was planning on launching a reelection bid “with the aim of fulfilling commitments made to antagonistic criminal groups operating in the area.”   The mayor had apparently awarded five contracts worth 1 million pesos a month (about $50,000) to the Guerreros Unidos cartel, the same group widely believed to be responsible for the students’ disappearance. The memo also noted that, according to a protected witness, of the city’s 68 police officers, 40 had links to the Guerreros Unidos, working as sicarios or informants.   So while in some cases cartels may just be bribing public officials to turn a blind eye, security analysts say that increasingly in Mexico the state is becoming a tool for criminal groups to enrich themselves and expand their empire.   And in many parts of the country, making a deal with a cartel is the only way to run for office in the first place, according to Guerrero.   “If you want to be a candidate or seek reelection, the first person you need to ask for permission is the local crime boss,” he said. “If you don’t ask permission, you’re at risk of being assassinated at any moment.”   But if a rival cartel then seeks to take over that same territory, an elected official who made a deal with a different group might then become a target.   “These organizations don’t come in softly, they come in violently,” said Integralia’s Davila. “Part of this violence involves threatening members of the municipal government, including the police and the mayor, to tell them, ‘Well, now I’m the one you’re going to obey.’ But if you already have an agreement with the other group, that’s where they end up between bullets.”   One man who has so far managed to avoid the cartels’ claws is Perseo Quiroz, mayor of Tepoztlan, a community of some 55,000 people about an hour and half south of Mexico City. A quaint cobblestoned town pressed up against dramatic cliffs that turn deep green and fill with waterfalls during the rainy season, Tepoztlan has long been a major tourist destination, as well as a weekend escape for wealthy residents of the nation’s capital.   Largely for those reasons, it has mostly avoided the narco bloodshed that has engulfed many other towns. Still, Quiroz, who is a former executive director of Amnesty International Mexico and ran as an independent, said he was repeatedly warned that the cartels would approach him during his campaign to make some kind of corrupt pact. That never happened, he believes, because no one thought he would win: Independent candidates in Mexico rarely do.   That doesn’t mean Quiroz wasn’t fearful running for office, given the levels of political violence across the country: The year he ran was the most violent electorally in Mexico’s history.   “It would be crazy not to be afraid,” he said. “It’s like pain: Pain alerts you to certain things. You feel pain because something’s wrong. And to an extent being afraid forces you to take certain precautions. But that doesn’t mean that fear is going to paralyze you.”   After assuming office in January, Quiroz began implementing some of the reforms he had campaigned on: Shutting down bars that were blasting music late into the night; halting real estate developments run amok. But he also found himself in the middle of a crime wave.   In February, a group of about a dozen armed men burst into an upscale restaurant and demanded that the 40 patrons get on the floor. The bandits stole people’s cell phones and cash, as well as the restaurant’s safe. They smashed security cameras and beat up workers before fleeing back into the night in a black van and two motorcycles. The incident made national headlines.   Quiroz suspects that the surge in crime may have been a result of cartels’ trying to infiltrate Tepoztlán. “Since we didn’t make a pact with anyone, there were certain groups that I think were trying to work their way in,” he said.   The mayor has since replaced his head of security and begun working with state police as well as the military and the National Guard. In recent months, things have calmed down. “I’d like to think that we’ve been able to halt these attempts to take control of la plaza,” said Quiroz, using a term that means “the turf” in cartel lingo.   But a couple of weeks ago, the mayor received a threatening phone call from a man identifying himself as a member of one of Mexico’s major cartels. The man said they “didn’t agree with how the town was being run,” before adding, “Beware of the consequences.”   The phone call was traced to a major prison in Mexico City, which calmed Quiroz—to an extent. “It pulls the rug out from under you a bit,” he said. “Everyone is telling me to be careful.”   http://www.thenation.com/article/world/mexican-mayors-killed/ http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0962629824001550 http://www.wider.unu.edu/publication/why-are-mexican-politicians-being-assassinated   * 31/8/2025   Thousands demonstrate across Mexico calling for Government action for the 130,000 missing people. (BBC World News)   Thousands of people have held protests across Mexico to highlight the country's many enforced disappearances and demand more action by officials to tackle them.   Relatives and friends of missing people, as well as human rights activists, marched through the streets of Mexico City, Guadalajara, Cordoba and other cities calling for justice and calling on the government of President Claudia Sheinbaum to help find their missing loved ones.   More than 130,000 people have been reported as missing in Mexico. Almost all the disappearances have occurred since 2007, when then-President Felipe Calderon launched his "war on drugs". While drug cartels and organised crime groups are the main perpetrators, security forces are also blamed for deaths and disappearances.   The wide spread of cities, states and municipalities where demonstrations were held illustrated the extent to which the problem of forced disappearances affects communities and families across Mexico.   From southern states like Oaxaca to northern ones like Sonora and Durango – activists and family members of disappeared people turned out in their thousands carrying placards with their relatives' faces on them, to demand the authorities do more to address the issue.   http://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2025/03/mexico-el-estado-debe-investigar-el-hallazgo-de-fosas-clandestinas-en-jalisco-y-tamaulipas/ http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/04/un-committee-enforced-disappearances-clarifies-its-procedure-under-article http://www.ohchr.org/en/stories/2024/08/mexicos-disappeared-pain-serves-engine-collective-struggle http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/07/mexico-un-committee-enforced-disappearances-condemns-violence-against http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/09/enforced-disappearances-un-expert-group-review-1317-cases-44-countries-137th http://www.ohchr.org/en/treaty-bodies/ced   http://www.opendemocracy.net/en/mexico-disappearances-cartel-rancho-izaguirre-claudia-sheinbaum-interview-lisa-sanchez/ http://www.ipsnews.net/2025/04/disappeared-mexicos-industrial-scale-human-rights-crisis/ http://www.omct.org/en/resources/blog/enforced-disappearance-the-families-permanent-suffering-is-torture http://www.icrc.org/en/article/international-day-disappeared-2025 http://www.un.org/en/observances/victims-enforced-disappearance http://srdefenders.org/resource/international-day-of-the-victims-of-enforced-disappearances-2024/ http://www.cedi193.org/   July 2025   More than 1.3 million people have been displaced in Haiti by gang violence.   More than 1.3 million people have been displaced in Haiti as surging gang violence, lawlessness, and impunity expose the population – especially women and girls – to heightened risks of exploitation and sexual violence.   Since January, the UN Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH), recorded over 4,000 individuals deliberately killed – a 24 per cent increase compared to the same period in 2024.   “The capital city was for all intents and purposes paralysed by gangs and isolated due to the ongoing suspension of international commercial flights into the international airport,” Miroslav Jenca, Assistant Secretary-General for the Americas at the department of political affairs (DPPA), told ambassadors in the UN Security Council.   Having visited the country recently, he warned that, gangs have only “strengthened their foothold”, which now affects all communes of the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area and beyond, “pushing the situation closer to the brink.”   He called on the international community to act decisively and urgently or the “total collapse of state presence in the capital could become a very real scenario”.   Ghada Fathi Waly, Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), echoed that warning.   “As gang control expands, the state’s capacity to govern is rapidly shrinking, with social, economic and security implications,” she told ambassadors. “This erosion of state legitimacy has cascading effects,” she said, with legal commerce becoming paralysed as gangs control major trade routes, such conditions worsening “already dire levels of food insecurity and humanitarian need,” she added.   The ongoing deterioration of security in the country continues to fuel human rights violations. Despite persistent under-reporting of sexual violence due to fear of reprisals, social stigma and lack of trust in institutions, UN agencies reported an increase in sexual violence committed by gangs in the past three months.   In May, Haitian police raided a medical facility in Petion-Ville suspected of being involved in illicit organ trade, as allegations of trafficking in persons for the purpose of organ removal are rising.   1.3 million people have been forced to flee gang violence in Haiti and seek refuge elsewhere within the Caribbean country, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said. This represents a 24 per cent increase from December 2024 according to the UN agency – the largest number of people displaced by violence on record there.   “Behind these numbers are so many individual people whose suffering is immeasurable; children, mothers, the elderly, many of them forced to flee their homes multiple times, often with nothing, and now living in conditions that are neither safe nor sustainable,” said Amy Pope, IOM Director General.   The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Haiti, María Isabel Salvador, stressed that the situation is a “multifaceted crisis" which must be addressed with multifaceted and dynamic solutions.   “We believe that the international community’s response must match the scale, urgency, and complexity of the challenge. That’s why strong international security support must be accompanied by peacebuilding measures, humanitarian action and political support that could ultimately allow Haiti to make progress on the path to sustainable development.”   She said one way to reduce violence in Haiti is by empowering communities themselves, especially women to lead bold new initiatives.   http://news.un.org/en/story/2025/08/1165554 http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/07/spreading-gang-violence-poses-major-risk-haiti-and-caribbean-sub-region http://binuh.unmissions.org/en/un-special-representative-patten-urges-immediate-action-sexual-violence-surges-amid-gang-violence http://reliefweb.int/report/haiti/states-should-not-return-anyone-haiti-un-expert-bill-oneill http://www.ipsnews.net/2025/08/haiti-faces-a-critical-turning-point-amid-escalated-violence-and-funding-cuts/ http://www.msf.org/haiti-escalating-violence-increases-displacement http://www.unicef.org/lac/en/press-releases/hope-haiti-children-amid-chaos-statement-deputy-executive-director-chaiban http://www.ohchr.org/en/stories/2025/04/restoring-dignity-global-call-end-violence-haiti http://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/country-reports/ahrc5876-situation-human-rights-haiti-report-united-nations-high http://www.icrc.org/en/article/haiti-renewed-clashes-fuel-humanitarian-crisis-has-no-end-sight http://news.un.org/en/tags/haiti http://reliefweb.int/country/hti
	Justice and accountability for international crimes and serious human rights violations by the Global Initiative Against Impunity   July 2025   On the 27th anniversary of the adoption of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, the Global Initiative Against Impunity reaffirms the essential role of international justice in upholding the international rules-based order.   Victims and survivors of atrocity crimes must be at the heart of these processes and have the right to meaningful, equal, and effective access to justice and reparation.   In the face of unprecedented threats over the past year, international justice mechanisms have demonstrated resilience and resolve.   Nonetheless, we remain deeply concerned about the continued erosion of accountability that jeopardizes victims’ rights and weakens the international rule of law.   In many contexts, transitional justice efforts are being undermined or co-opted, failing to confront the root causes of violence or deliver redress to those most affected.   We have witnessed selective responses driven by political interests, interference and attacks that threaten the independence, impartiality and effectiveness of judicial bodies.   The absence of concrete and coordinated action to preserve the international justice system - often in defiance of States’ obligations under international law - has allowed atrocities to persist and escalate, causing devastating suffering for civilians.   In this difficult context, it is even more inspiring to see the unwavering commitment of human rights defenders and civil society in their fight against impunity, despite the risks they face, sometimes at the cost of their lives.   Many have pursued legal action, documented and denounced atrocities, or mobilized international and national solidarity through public demonstrations.   Survivors, victims’ groups, and affected communities have taken up the charge to lead efforts to demand truth, justice, and reparation, including guarantees of non-recurrence, even in the absence of institutional support, and the dearth of funding.   Such determination for justice to prevail and for perpetrators to be held accountable must remain our shared guiding principles in the pursuit of international justice.   To preserve the international justice system that we have collectively built over decades, we must demonstrate our commitment to human rights and democracy through firm and bold action.   This moment demands responsibility from all stakeholders - States and decision-makers, international organizations, and corporate actors - to uphold their international obligations and reinforce the fight against impunity.   In particular, the Global Initiative Against Impunity urges all States to deploy every tool at their disposal - legal, political, diplomatic, and economic - to honor their commitments and the following.   1. Ensure the safe and equal access of victims and survivors of international crimes, including by supporting meaningful participation in judicial processes and the implementation of reparations frameworks. This includes investing in survivor-centred, trauma-informed mechanisms that go beyond consultation and enable co-creation of justice processes at local, national, regional, and international levels.   2. Take effective and coordinated actions to unequivocally support and strengthen international justice institutions and those who defend them, by adopting legal instruments and other safeguards that adequately protect these bodies and individuals, and by ensuring sustainable financial support.   3. Support United Nations accountability mechanisms and experts in their efforts to access victims, investigate, protect, advocate for human rights, and bring about justice for international crimes This includes adopting a firm stance and taking action, including through diplomatic pressure, in response to smear campaigns and attacks against them.   4. Implement decisive measures to prevent international crimes and serious human rights violations, as well as the risk of complicity through activities that benefit from their commission, and ensure accountability for all perpetrators, whether individuals, states, or corporate actors.   This includes respecting international legal obligations, complying with the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinions and judgments, and fully cooperating with the International Criminal Court.   On the Day of International Criminal Justice, the Global Initiative Against Impunity reaffirms its commitment to advancing comprehensive justice and accountability for international crimes and serious human rights violations across the globe - including through inclusive, locally rooted transitional justice approaches that challenge structural impunity and foster long-term peace and equality - until justice works, everywhere and for all.   * The Global Initiative Against Impunity for international crimes: Making justice work (GIAI) is a Consortium of eight international NGOs and the Coalition for the ICC, co-funded by the European Union, which aims to contribute to the fight against impunity by supporting a comprehensive, integrated, and inclusive approach to justice and accountability for serious human rights violations and international crimes.   July 2025   Statement of ICC President Judge Tomoko Akane on 17 July, Day of International Criminal Justice:   The adoption of the Statute in Rome on 17 July 1998 was, without doubt, one of the greatest day for international law and for the fight against impunity for the most serious crimes. It was built on a shared conviction that impunity for grave crimes threatens the peace and security and wellbeing of the world.   As we mark the Day of International Criminal Justice we reflect on our commitment to continuous improvement in performing that crucial mandate. Our mission is to fight impunity for the most serious crimes under international law: genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression.   In over 20 years of existence the ICC has grown into a robust judicial institution. We focus on delivering accountability for the perpetrators and redress to victims, in accordance with the rule of law and with full judicial independence.   This year, the Day of International Criminal Justice comes at a time of heightened global tensions and renewed attacks on the very institutions tasked with upholding international law especially during armed conflicts. The Court stands in solidarity with these institutions as well as their personnel. While the ICC, its officials, and other actors in the field of justice have come under increasing pressure, attacks, threats and sanctions, the Court will remain undeterred in fulfilling the mandate given to it by the 125 States Parties.   At this very moment, countless civilians live in ruins, subject to treatment contrary to international law. International justice is a lifeline for survivors, a signal of hope and a path of healing for the victims, and the way to break the recurrent cycles of violence and vengeance.   The Court will continue working for these countless victims and it is our collective duty to cherish this precious project – the Rome Statute system – that was created by the wisdom of mankind.   On this 17th of July, we must also reflect on the imperative need for the full cooperation and support of States for the ICC’s work. And the more States join the Rome Statute, the stronger is the force of legal protection against the most heinous crimes. Now more than ever, the world must rally around the promise that impunity should not be an option and that law must be the strong and adequate answer to violence and international crimes. I firmly believe that, united by our unwavering commitment to international justice, we can further strengthen our collective bond and ensure that this important institution continues to thrive.   We have a tremendously important mandate, which can only be fulfilled with global support. Together, we can build a more just world.   http://www.icc-cpi.int/news/statement-icc-president-judge-tomoko-akane-17-july-day-international-criminal-justice http://www.fidh.org/en/issues/international-justice/the-global-initiative-against-impunity-for-international-crimes-and-2235/day-of-international-criminal-justice-global-initiative-against http://www.coalitionfortheicc.org/news/giai-statement-EU-Day-Against-Impunity-2025 http://www.ecchr.eu/en/case/global-initiative-against-impunity/   * 20 Aug. 2025   International Criminal Court strongly rejects new US sanctions against Judges and Deputy Prosecutors   The International Criminal Court deplores the announcement of new designations for sanctions by the US administration against ICC Judges Kimberly Prost (Canada), Judge Nicolas Guillou (France), Deputy Prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan (Fiji) and Deputy Prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang (Senegal). These additional designations follow the earlier designation of four other judges and the ICC Prosecutor.   These sanctions are a flagrant attack against the independence of an impartial judicial institution which operates under the mandate from 125 States Parties from all regions. They constitute also an affront against the Court’s States Parties, the rules-based international order and, above all, millions of innocent victims across the world.   As stated before by the ICC President and Judiciary, as well as the Presidency of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute, the Court stands firmly behind its personnel and victims of unimaginable atrocities. The ICC will continue fulfilling its mandate, undeterred, in strict accordance with its legal framework as adopted by the States Parties and without regard to any restriction, pressure or threat.   The Court calls upon States Parties and all those who share the values of humanity and the rule of law to provide firm and consistent support to the Court and its work carried out in the sole interest of victims of international crimes.   * The ICC investigates the gravest crimes of concern to the international community, namely genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of aggression. It is based in The Hague, in the Netherlands, and was established under a 1998 treaty known as the Rome Statute which came into force four years later. The United States and Israel are not among the 125 States that are party to the treaty.   Last November, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant, together with former Hamas commanders, in connection with the conflict in Gaza, citing allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity. It is also probing war crimes allegedly committed in Afghanistan by all sides during years of conflict, including the US, following the allied invasion of the country in May 2003.   The UN underlined the key role that the ICC has in international criminal justice and expressed concern over the imposition of further sanctions.   “The decision imposes severe impediments on the functioning of the office of the prosecutor and respect for all the situations that are currently before the court,” UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric told journalists in New York.   “Judicial independence is a basic principle that must be respected, and these types of measures undermine the foundation of international justice.”   http://www.icc-cpi.int/news/icc-strongly-rejects-new-us-sanctions-against-judges-and-deputy-prosecutors http://www.icc-cpi.int/news/statement-icc-president-judge-tomoko-akane-following-issuance-us-executive-order-seeking http://www.icc-cpi.int/news/statement-icc-judiciary http://www.icc-cpi.int/news/presidency-assembly-states-parties-expresses-deep-concern-and-rejects-us-measures-targeting http://www.ipcinfo.org/ipcinfo-website/countries-in-focus-archive/issue-134/en/ http://www.ohchr.org/en/media-centre/news-situation-occupied-palestinian-territory-israel-and-lebanon http://www.icj.org/icj-communication-to-the-international-court-of-justice-urging-the-investigation-of-the-courts-vice-president/
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