Report - Human Rights Defenders in the State of Guerrero - December 2007

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76 | The Mexican Government and Social Demands

Public Policies and Human Rights Mexico's Presence in International Organizations that Work to Protect Human Rights One thinks globally and acts locally, and this is important in terms of human rights, having a global vision of human rights and transporting it to the local arena. Hipólito Lugo Cortés, General Examiner from the coddehum

120 Interview with Juan Carlos Gutierrez, Professor for the Master’s Program in Human Rights at the Ibero-American University, July 28, 2007. 121 Interview with Juan Carlos Gutiérrez, July 28, 2007.

The United Nations Mexico has played a significant role in the construction of the current international legal human rights framework. Following the defeat of the pri in 2000, and with the new government led by Vicente Fox of the National Action Party (pan), Mexico intensified its work in international institutions of the United Nations. Approving international instruments became a priority on Mexico’s foreign policy agenda, and Mexico worked to approve the Convention on the Forced Disappearance of Persons, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and the Protocol for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Mexico is one of the countries that worked to encourage reforms in the United Nations Human Rights Commission, which resulted in the substitution of this entity for the Human Rights Council. When member states were voted into the new Council, Mexico was one of the countries that received the most votes, and was later elected to the presidency. Mexico has opened its doors to all who wish to visit the country and has shown respect for the work of un human rights organizations within its territory. Mexico welcomes all United Nations Rapporteurs that wish to visit and invited the High Commissioner for Human Rights to open an office in Mexico to provide technical services regarding human rights.120 Both within the United Nations as well as amongst human rights organizations in Geneva that work in the un (such as the International Jurist Commission), Mexico’s human rights actions have received very positive feedback.121

peace brigades international – mexico project


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