URGENT APPEAL – Forced entry into the home of Ms Dora Roblero, Director of CDH Frayba

The Swedish Fellowship of Reconciliation (SweFOR) would like to express our profound concern and condemnation of the forced entry into the home of Dora Roblero, director of the Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Human Rights Centre (CDH Frayba), which took place on the 22nd of July 2025 in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas. The act constitutes a serious aggression that increases the risk situation of those who are part of CDH Frayba and constitutes an attack on the right to defend human rights in the region. On 22 July, the home of Dora Roblero, director of CDH Frayba, was broken into.  The forced entry, which was carried out without any signs of theft or removal of property, indicates that the attackers entered and moved freely around the premises. It suggests that the purpose of the forced entry was not material, but intimidatory, aimed at frightening Dora Roblero and, by extension, CDH Frayba and the entire community of human rights defenders in the region of Chiapas, Mexico.

For 36 years, CDH Frayba has defended and promoted human rights in Chiapas. It has accompanied victims of serious violations, indigenous communities, communities fighting for their autonomy and self-determination, and the general population, establishing itself as one of the leading organisations in the field in Mexico. Their work has been crucial in highlighting human rights violations committed in the state and the lack of response from the authorities.

Dora Roblero has been a human rights defender for more than 30 years, and she has been the director of CDH Frayba since May 2022. Her leadership comes at a time of increasing criminal violence in Chiapas, which CH Frayba has highlighted in recent reports.

SweFOR has accompanied CDH Frayba for more than 20 years, witnessing their tireless commitment as well as the worrying increase in attacks against its members. In this context, we recall that in 2010, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) granted precautionary measures MC-52-10 to CDH Frayba, recognising its situation of risk. From January 2024 to date, SweFOR has documented more than 50 attacks against CDH Frayba, including two forced entries in private homes and an attempted abduction, as well as surveillance, harassment and intimidation aimed at restricting their work. As we pointed out in our joint statement on 24 April 2024, the smear campaigns against CDH Frayba have been systematic and many of them originate from high-level public officials, which further exacerbates the risk and de-legitimises the work of defending human rights.

The forced entry into the home of Dora Roblero not only threatens her integrity and that of CDH Frayba, but also represents a risk to the entire civic space in Chiapas, where defending human rights has become increasingly dangerous. Mexico continues to be one of the most lethal countries for human rights defenders and journalists, and the situation in Chiapas has deteriorated dramatically over the last four years.

SweFOR would like to call on the Mexican State to immediately cease violence against human rights defenders. We implore a firm and sustained commitment to protecting those who defend life, justice, and dignity. It is essential that the work of Dora Roblero and CDH Frayba be recognised and protected, and that effective prevention, protection and investigation mechanisms be implemented to send a clear message of zero tolerance for attacks and a guarantee of non-repetition.

SweFOR expresses our condemnation and preoccupation following this of this attack, and would like to urge the competent authorities to:

• Guarantee the immediate and comprehensive protection of Dora Roblero and the CDH Frayba team.
• Investigate the facts immediately, diligently and impartially.
• Punish those responsible for the crime, both in its material and intellectual sense.
• Implement effective measures to ensure that such acts are not repeated.

Furthermore, we urge diplomatic representations and international organisations to:

• Publicly condemn the attack against Dora Roblero and CDH Frayba.
• Publicly recognise the human rights work carried out by Dora Roblero and CDH Frayba.
• Take action in line with their mandates to ensure that the Mexican state carries out the necessary protection, investigation and punishment measures.

Sincerely,

The Swedish Fellowship of Reconciliation (SweFOR)

Download the urgent appeal (in Spanish) here: https://swefor.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/250725-Accion-urgente-allanamiento-domicilio-Dora-Roblero-directora-CDH-FRayba-2.pdf