Stephanie Brewer: Holding the ground in the fight for justice to end a history of violence
Geneva, 14 December 2016 (OMCT) - As a human rights lawyer at Mexico’s Centro de Derechos Humanos MiguelAgustin Pro Juarez (Centro Prodh), StephanieBrewer fights for those whohave been victims of abuses in a country whose violent history has had rippleeffects to the present day.
In Mexico, the global Cold War between the two ideologically opposedblocks that followed the world wars took the form of a bloody repression ofopponents to the regime by the PRI-ruled Government.
The nation was not able to recover from this “Dirty War” waged in the1960s through systematic torture and thousands of disappearances and summaryexecutions. These crimes having stayed unpunished for decades, violence hasgangrened the entire Mexican society. Violence now continues unabatedly, drivenby both criminal groups and the State, with a yearly toll of tens of thousandsof people tortured and some 28,000 missing or forcibly disappeared.
“There has not been accountability for crimes in the past, so neither isthere accountability of crimes in the present,” she said.
The war on drugs and the militarization of society
The drug war has only made things worse. For years now, Mexico has beencarrying out a crackdown on cartels, supposedly to reduce drug-related crime.Yet, the heightened security constraints it has meant have in fact onlyinfringed upon people’s rights. The military are regularly handling publicsecurity, police investigations and other tasks normally undertaken by regularpolice forces. This only aggravates the culture of violence.
“Instead of making us more secure, these are actually just creatingexceptions to respect for human rights, even in the Constitution; so obviouslythere are massive human rights abuses,” she explained.
In this context of pervasive violence and impunity, human rightsdefenders in Mexico obviously face many challenges in their everyday work,ranging from the authorities’ lack of will to investigate human rights abuses,to smear media campaigns or indeed physical violence and killings of humanrights defenders.
Though a Harvard graduate who has presented cases before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and theUnited Nations, Ms. Brewer considers that the real defenders of human rightsare the families and the victims who are searching for justice – the verypeople she strives to help.
Ms. Brewer is convinced that if change is to come in Mexico, it willcome thanks to these courageous people who keep fighting for the liberation oftheir loved ones, wrongfully imprisoned after having been tortured forinstance.
What keeps her going in this austere context is the knowledge that sheis fighting for what is right.
“It’s not a question of ‘which is going to be the winning side’ orwhether we are going to have advances in the near future or setbacks,” shesaid. “It’s simply a question of ‘this is the right side to be on?’ We knowwe’re not going to give an inch in that fight.”
This article is part of a series of 10 profiles to commemorateInternational Human Rights Day, 10 December, and to recognize the vital role ofhuman rights defenders worldwide.
OMCT wishes to thankthe Republic and Canton of Geneva and the OAK Foundation for their support. Itscontent is the sole responsibility of OMCT and should in no way be interpretedas reflecting the view(s) of the supporting institutions.
