In 2019, 39 environmental human rights defenders were victims of attacks in Mexico. Of these, 15 were killed.
According to the most recent report by the Mexican Center for Environmental Law, between 2012 and 2019, there were 499 attacks on land and environment activists that took place across the vast majority of states. This indicates permanent and diffuse standards and practices that culminate in the systematic and widespread violation of this vulnerable group's right to life, integrity and personal security, judicial protection and procedural guarantees. The violence suffered by environmental human rights defenders, their organizations and communities, in addition to being direct, is structural in nature.
United Nations Special Rapporteur Michel Forst contended in his report on the situation of environmental human rights defenders in the world that the cause of systematic violations of environmental human rights defenders lies in the imbalance of power between the State and local communities. This is due to the exclusion of access to information and public participation in decision-making processes regarding the exploitation of natural resources and the equitable sharing of the resulting economic benefits.
