A/HRC/20/17 formally institutionalized under the Ministry of Interior following the adoption of Decree No. 4912 in December 2011. Such a programme was necessitated by the high number of assassinations of journalists during the previous administration, in which eight journalists were killed in the first year, and six killed in the last six years. However, the situation in Colombia is still not an optimal one for journalists; in fact, Colombia has dropped in its ranking on the Press Freedom Index of Reporters Without Borders, from 114th out of 179 countries in 2002 to 143rd in 2011-2012. 71. OHCHR Colombia has welcomed the protection programme of the Ministry of Interior and Justice, but has also highlighted concerns, including the delays in assessing risks and implementing protection measures, the absence of a contextual approach and the transfer of protection schemes to private companies. OHCHR Colombia continues to provide assistance and advice to help to create more homogeneity and coordination between the different protection mechanisms. Despite these shortcomings, the Special Rapporteur welcomes the positive steps taken to combine different protection programmes based on coordination between State institutions, journalists and civil society organizations, and considers it an important step forward in preventing the assassination of journalists. 72. The establishment in Colombia of the National Unit for the Protection of Journalists and other vulnerable sectors is also a good practice worth mentioning. However, this mechanism only addresses so-called “material measures of protection,” such as mobile phones, bulletproof vehicles, emergency evacuations and transfers to other regions of the country or abroad, such as those granted under witness protection programmes. The Special Rapporteur considers it important to mention that the protection of journalists requires a holistic approach that includes material, legal, and political measures of protection, in particular public condemnation of attacks against journalists and support for press freedom by high-level State officials. 73. In Mexico, reacting to the seriousness of the situation of journalists in the country, the Federal State established the Special Prosecutor’s Office for Crimes against Freedom of Expression (FEADLE) within the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic (PGR). 74. However, during the Special Rapporteur’s mission to Mexico in 2010, reservations were expressed regarding the paucity of results achieved by the FEADLE and its tendency to decline competency over certain cases referred to its jurisdiction, due in part to the lack of will on the part of officials to take up cases and implement an adequate work programme, but also due to lack of autonomy and resources, and the fact that acts of violence against journalists are not prohibited under federal law. Although the Special Rapporteur welcomed the work plan which the FEADLE was implementing at the time of his mission to Mexico (A/HRC/17/27/Add.3), he emphasized the importance of immediately creating a national mechanism to protect journalists, designed and implemented through a high-level official and inter-institutional committee, led by a federal authority with the capacity to coordinate between diverse authorities, having its own sufficient resources, and with the participation of journalists and civil society organizations in its design, integration, functioning and evaluation. The Special Rapporteur underlines the importance of such institutions having sufficient autonomy and resources, as well as investigatory powers and the competency to make recommendations to the Government. 75. The Special Rapporteur also recommended that the Congress in Mexico criminalize acts of violence against journalists and give federal courts the competency to prosecute such matters. He has been informed that Congress has passed such a law, which is currently being considered for adoption by the authorities of each state in Mexico. 76. Although the above examples of challenges and good practices relating to the protection of journalists in situations of widespread violence or impunity have been drawn from Latin America, this is not the only region in which these issues are a concern. The 13