Assignment report from Mexico fact-finding visit

Executive Summary

CSW carried out its first ever fact-finding visit, accompanied by a representative of its Mexican partner organisation Impulso 18, to the state of Chiapas in southern Mexico from 22 April to 29 April 2014. The primary objective of the visit was to interview victims of religious freedom violations, particularly focusing on those who have been forcibly displaced because of their faith. CSW also met the local activists and organisations who represent and are accompanying these victims, as well as elected and appointed state government officials, Protestant and Catholic church leaders, the Chiapas State Human Rights Commission, and academic experts on the subject of religious intolerance and diversity in Chiapas. Officials from the state governments religious affairs office did not respond to CSW’s request for a meeting.

The general consensus was that religious freedom violations are on the rise in the state of Chiapas, which already has the highest number of religious freedom violations in the country. These violations include the deprivation of basic services including water and electricity, deprivation of access to an education, arbitrary detention, forced conversion, physical violence, expropriation of property and forced displacement. In all these cases, the victims are targeted on the basis of their religious beliefs.

At best, the state and municipal governments are unable or unwilling to protect the religious freedom of their citizens and to address these human rights violations. At worst, they are passively or actively complicit in the violations of religious freedom.

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