Mexican Rights Activist Alejandra Ancheita Awarded Prestigious International Prize Agencia EFE
go to original October 8, 2014

Mexico City human rights lawyer challenges culture of death threats (MoralCourageChannel)

Mexican activist Alejandra Ancheita was honored in Geneva with the Martin Ennals human rights prize, which recognizes individuals whose work demonstrates "deep commitment" and places them at "great personal risk."

The recipient of this year's award is the founder and director of ProDESC, a Mexican non-governmental organization that works to defend and promote economic, social and cultural rights.

Its specific actions include providing protection to migrants and supporting the rights of indigenous communities whose traditional lands are being developed by transnational mining and energy companies.

The website of the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders describes Ancheita as a "Mexican lawyer and activist who leads the fight for the rights of migrants, workers, and indigenous communities of her native country to dramatically raise their standard of living."

The chairwoman of the Martin Ennals Foundation, Swiss former President Micheline Calmy-Rey, said the selection of Ancheita serves to highlight the wide variety of threats that human rights defenders face.

The specific case of the Mexican activist, she said, shows that the collusion of "local governments and courts ... with powerful economic interests has led to public defamation and physical attacks" against those who are merely working to defend the powerless.

Read the full story at GlobalPost

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