UN asks Mexican authorities to clarify violence during election

MEXICO CITY (apro) – The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, has called on Mexican authorities to shed light on the criminal violence that took place during the June 2 election process, in which at least 37 people aspiring to be elected were eliminated.

Speaking about the worrying situation in countries around the world, Turk mentioned the electoral violence in Mexico that took place during the 56th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

“In Mexico, I call on the authorities to ensure accountability for the violence and murders that occurred during the elections, including for politicians,” said Volker Türk.

The concerns of UN officials about violence during the elections are not without reason. The Causa en Común organization, which has compiled statistics on violence between June 2023 and June 3 of this year, warns that during this period, at least 63 political murders have occurred, 37 of which were related to applicants or candidates for one of the political murders. On June 2 of this year, more than 20,000 popular electoral positions were disputed.

In a speech to the UN Human Rights Council, Austrian lawyer Türk expressed concern about the ongoing attacks on journalists and human rights defenders “who seek to expose violations and abuses, as well as restrictions on civil rights space.”

After calling for the protection of these sectors, the High Commissioner stressed that according to UNESCO, 72 journalists and media workers will be murdered in the world by 2023, “mostly in conflict situations”.

Regarding human rights defenders, he said his office had documented “at least 42 murders of indigenous human rights defenders in 11 countries in 2023, most of them for defending the environment, territories and resources,” though the record is certainly less than the reality, he said.

In his speech, the High Commissioner began by deploring the worsening of armed conflicts in the world since his last appearance at the Human Rights Council in March last year, in particular the armed conflict between Lebanon and Israel and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

He tells about serious human rights violations in the world, as well as environmental destruction, social inequalities, legislative setbacks against women’s rights, the right to association or freedom of expression.