A UN expert panel condemned the murder of a Mexican human rights activist on Wednesday, and called for a thorough, impartial and transparent investigation by state authorities.
Sael Silva Cisneros, a prominent lawyer and advocate for Afro-Mexican and LGBTQ rights, was killed in an attack outside the town of Cuajinicuilapa on June 5, shortly after delivering a seminar titled “Afro-Mexican dissidences in Guerrero: history, justice and rights.” Cisneros had a history of campaigning for Afro-Mexican rights, and dcoumenting the systemic intersectional marginalization of this community within Mexico and abroad. The town of Cuajinicuilapa is located close to southwestern coast of Mexico, a heartland of the Afro-Mexican population.
Cisneros had also worked as a researcher for the Supreme Court of Mexico, which released a statement following his murder, honoring his work and condemning “any form of violence that attacks the dignity, equality and human rights of individuals.”
The UN experts reiterated Mexico’s commitments under international human rights treaties to protect marginalized groups, especially those facing intersectional and overlapping forms of discrimination, as well as to dismantle the systemic forces that facilitate these abuses. They also urged Mexico to provide “truth, justice, full reparation and guarantees of non-repetition” for said abuses.
Currently, Mexico has one of the highest rates of attack on human rights defenders and has been previously criticized by the UN for its failure to protect activists despite the enactment of the Law for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists in 2012.