The UN Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR) on Oct. 1 voiced concerns regarding the growing number of journalists killed in Mexico, and called for Mexican authorities to investigate these crimes and bring those responsible to justice. According to the journalists' rights group, Reporters without Borders (RSF), the discovery on Sept. 24 of the body of Maria Elizabeth Macias, editor of Primera Hora (Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas), marked the fourth woman journalist to be murdered in Mexico this year, as well as the eightieth journalist to be killed in the country within the last decade. The death of Macias is believed to be the result of her online blogging activity, which covered organized crime in her neighborhood.

OHCHR spokersperson Rupert Colville said at a press briefing:

We urge the Mexican authorities to launch immediate full and impartial investigations into these events. We also remind them of their obligation to protect all people in Mexico from the threats to the enjoyment of their fundamental rights, particularly their right to life, to security and integrity of the person, and to freedom of expression.

He noted that the killings illustrate the "deteriorating situation of freedom of expression in the country."

In May, RSF released its annual list of predators of press freedom, which included the heads of state of several countries in the Middle East and North Africa, as well as Mexican drug cartels.

From Jurist, Oct. 2. Used with permission.

See our last posts on Mexico's narco wars and attacks on the press