Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) is supporting an initiative by the Mexican National Council for Religious Tolerance to host a forum on “Religious Persecution and its Challenges” on 16 March.

The event will take place in Chiapas State, where religious freedom violations are common, and will examine the attention accorded to these issues, how violations can be prevented and how to promote a culture of tolerance. Drawing on international experiences, the forum will include perspectives from the government and civil society organisations.

The main open panel event will comprise local and national participants, including the President of the Inter-American Federation of Christian Jurists (FIAJC), representatives from Open Doors International, and a member of the Mexican Congress, Deputy Hugo Eric Flores Cervantes.

The forum follows a series of serious freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) violations in Mexico in 2016, including the destruction of churches and property and the forced displacement of members of religious minorities solely due to their religious beliefs.

One recent and particularly severe case, which took place in Gabriel Leyva Velázquez, Margaritas Municipality in Chiapas State, involved the forced displacement of nine families belonging to the Renovation in Christ denomination and the destruction of their property. These violations have taken place despite a January 2015 agreement between the Chiapas State government and seven Mexican communities that have experienced long standing and severe FoRB violations. As part of the agreement, the state government promised to resolve the seven cases by April 2015, however, only two of the communities, from Buenavista Bahuitz, Margaritas Municipality, and Unión Juárez, Trinitaria Municipality have seen any form of resolution in their situation; and restrictions on FoRB in Buenavista Bahuitz remain in place.

CSW’s Chief Executive Mervyn Thomas said, ‘’We welcome tomorrow’s forum on religious persecution, organised by our Mexican colleagues, and look forward to the insights of the open panel. We continue to be deeply concerned by both the recent cases of religious freedom violations in various states, including Chiapas, as well as by the Chiapas State government’s failure to fulfil its 2015 promises to resolve long-standing cases. We call on the Mexican government to take the forum’s recommendations seriously and to commit urgently to the resolution of all FoRB violations in Chiapas and other States where serious religious freedom violations are common’’

Notes to Editors:

1. Conflict between traditionalist and/or syncretistic Catholics and non-Catholics is common in the states of Chiapas, Oaxaca, Guerrero, Hidalgo and Puebla where there are large indigenous populations. According to Mexican legal experts, ambiguity as to the relationship between the rights laid out in the Mexican Constitution and the Law of Uses and Customs, which gives indigenous communities a degree of autonomy to exercise traditional law, have allowed local authorities to violate the rights of members of the local communities with impunity. In addition, the Mexican government’s aversion to involving itself in religious issues has allowed such situations to escalate.

2.    For more information on FoRB issues in Mexico see CSW’s report; for more information on the situation in Chiapas and the January 2015 agreement see our May 2015 assignment report.