On 20 March, the Mexican government presented in an addendum its observations regarding the 176 recommendations it had received in October 2013 during its evaluation before the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), which took place during the 25th period of sessions of the UN Human Rights Council. The UPR is a mechanism of periodic evaluation of the UN HRC, created in 2006 to consider the situations that prevail on the question in each of the 193 member-nations.
The Mexican State affirmed that “there has been a large acceptance of the recommendations made by the member-nations.” It added that the federal government would design a mechanism coordinated with governmental institutions that would guarantee the participation of civil organizations to evaluate progress on the recommendations. It noted that said recommendations were taken into account for the construction of the National Program in terms of human rights that will soon be presented.
Regardless, civil-society organizations lamented that Mexico has rejected observations on questions “such as the elimination of ‘community control’ and the recognition of the competence of the Committee on Forced Disappearance to receive individual complaints.” They noted that, the optimistic view of the authorities notwithstanding, the human-rights situation in Mexico continues to be grave.
They added that “in accordance with the information provided by the Mexican government, it is from now that the national process to design a mechanism to observe and follow the received recommendations,” a process which they will follow closely to assure that “the commitments do not remain only on paper, but rather that they be translated into true changes for human rights in the country.”
For more information (in Spanish):
Respuesta de México a las recomendaciones del Mecanismo de Examen Periódico Universal del Consejo de Derechos Humanos(Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores, marzo de 2014)
Defiende México ante la ONU la figura del arraigo (Proceso, 19 de marzo de 2014)
Acepta México 166 de 176 recomendaciones de la ONU en derechos humanos (La Jornada, 20 de marzo de 2014)
Comunicado conjunto: Esencial que compromisos asumidos en el Examen Periódico Universal se traduzcan en cambios reales en México (OSC, 20 de marzo de 2014)
Tres recomendaciones de ONU omitirá México (El Universal, 21 de marzo de 2014)
Sesión completa de México ante el Consejo DDHH: Mexico, UPR Report Consideration (61 min.).
For more information from SIPAZ (in English):
National: 176 recommendations for Mexico during the second cycle of the Universal Periodic Review (13 November 2013)
Mexico: Mexico undergoes the Universal Periodic Review (13 February 2009)
Mexico: The Mexican republic rejects recommendations made by the UPR (16 July 2009)
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