After almost 10 years as the Regional Director of ARTICLE 19’s Office for Mexico and Central America, Dario Ramirez, has decided to step down. He will leave the organisation in April 2016.
“It has been an amazing and very rewarding professional and personal experience. However, it is time to move on to achieve other personal goals. I want to thank our Executive Director, Thomas Hughes, for his constant support of our work. It has been an honour be part of the ARTICLE 19 family” stated Dario.
Dario established the ARTICLE 19 office in Mexico City a decade ago, initially focusing on issues of journalist protection and safety. Since then the team and activities have grown considerably. ARTICLE 19 now records an average of one aggression against a journalist every 24 hours in Mexico. In the past 15 years, 88 journalists have been murdered and 16 remain listed as missing. ARTICLE 19 now documents more than 300 attacks a year and has helped provide protection for over 500 journalists over the last decade, including a dozen that have fled the country with our assistance.
Alongside this crucial work on protection of journalists, Dario has led the establishment of ARTICLE 19 as a key player in pushing for a more effective right to information framework in Mexico, calling for accountable government, especially with regards to human rights violations in the country.
Furthermore, in the face of growing challenges to the right to protest, ARTICLE 19’s office in Mexico City has played a pivotal role in documenting aggressions and defending the civic space. It has conducted training for more than 200 human rights defenders on safety, and provided legal assistance to journalist victims of human rights abuses from the authorities in the context of protests.
Under Dario’s leadership, the work of ARTICLE 19 has become a fundamental and effective defence of freedom of expression and information in the region.
ARTICLE 19 Executive Director, Thomas Hughes, added: “I am saddened to see Dario moving on from ARTICLE 19, but he leaves in place an impressive decade-long legacy of defending freedom of expression and information. The regional office for Mexico and Central America has been an important incubator for progressive and innovative ideas and activities for defending human rights, many of which have been replicated worldwide. I wish Dario all the best in whatever challenges he decides to tackle next”