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2021-03-31-accounts

Justice Mexico Now: Trustees Annual Report 1[st] April 2020 to March 31[st] 2021

Justice Mexico Now is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (number 1177740) set up with the following charitable purposes: TO PROMOTE HUMAN RIGHTS (AS SET OUT IN THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND SUBSEQUENT UNITED NATIONS CONVENTIONS AND DECLARATIONS) THROUGHOUT THE WORLD BY ALL OR ANY OF THE FOLLOWING MEANS: ·

IN FURTHERANCE OF THAT OBJECT BUT NOT OTHERWISE, THE TRUSTEES SHALL HAVE POWER TO ENGAGE IN HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVITY PROVIDED THAT THE TRUSTEES ARE SATISFIED THAT THE PROPOSED ACTIVITIES WILL FURTHER THE PURPOSES OF THE CHARITY TO AN EXTENT JUSTIFIED BY THE RESOURCES COMMITTED AND THE ACTIVITY IS NOT THE DOMINANT MEANS BY WHICH THE CHARITY CARRIES OUT ITS OBJECTS

The year 2020/21 was a quiet year for Justice Mexico Now as our work was severely restricted by the COVID19 pandemic and the resulting lockdown which restricted our abilities to seek information, hold meetings and conduct visits to the region as well as affecting our ability to fundraise for our work. The pandemic also affected the organisations’ ability to hold public workshops and seminars and to meet policy makers and other stakeholders in person. Our income and expenditure remained similar to that of the previous year and we have around £2970 in unrestricted reserves. Despite the pandemic we continued to monitor continuing human rights violations throughout Mexico using virtual methods and monitoring press and media outputs. We also focused on issues facing women such as the growing number of femicides in Mexico and the increasing issue of migration through Mexico to attempt to reach the US from countries further to the South as well as increasingly from other continents.

Following the election in December 2018 of a government in Mexico which (at least in principle) promised to address some of the egregious human rights violations that the charity had identified in previous years we continued to monitor the record of this new administration. Mexico was particularly badly hit by the Covid pandemic in terms both of mortality and morbidity.

JMN continued to campaign for a proper and formal investigation of the kidnap and disappearance of 43 students from Ayotzinapa Teachers College in 2014 as well as the high numbers of murders of women, men and children throughout Mexico which sadly seem to have persisted under the current government. After three years of the new Government administration, it is clear that many significant human rights violations continue and that there remains a real and substantial need for the activities of JMN in researching and raising awareness of human rights issues in Mexico going forwards. In addition to monitoring details of human rights issues in Mexico the charity continued to publicise issues of human rights in Mexico with politicians, trades unions and other audiences throughout the UK using its website and organising a number of events online.

The charity’s Board of Trustees continued to meet regularly and reviewed activities and the finances of the organisation. The money comes from donations from individuals and institutions such as trades unions and the organisation has built up a small reserve of over £2970 and there was no significant expenditure on activities in 2020/21. The charity has been developing a number of plans for activity in 2022 now that we are coming out of the Covid pandemic. We are planning a fundraising event in March which will raise the issues of human rights in Mexico and we plan to present to the UN Human Rights secretariat in Geneva in either June or September. We will shortly also be registering two new trustees to the Board – Andy Gregg and Rupert Knox. All of JMN’s activities were for the public benefit and we ensured that none of our activity was party political or outside the terms of our charitable objects.