Historically Mexico has been an active promoter of human rights within the international arena. In 1917, Mexico was one of the first countries in North America to constitutionally enshrine social rights for its citizenry. Yet at the national level, the Mexican criminal justice system routinely fails to provide justice to victims of violent crime and human rights abuses. According to Mariclaire Acosta, former subsecretary for Human Rights and Democracy in Mexico, other problems include abusive treatment by law enforcement officials and widespread failure to hold officials responsible for human rights violations. “Human rights only flourish in democracies. We have to ask, is Mexico a truly democratic country?” she asked. As Acosta assessed Mexico’s political transition, she described the history of Mexico’s human rights movement, the current social and political climate for human rights and recent initiatives that the Fox administration has advanced that have opened windows of opportunity for progress for the country’s human rights agenda.

The Human Rights Movement

The human rights movement in Mexico developed in the mid 1980s in response to an era of state terror, which included the massacres of student protesters in 1968 and 1971 and the torture, execution and disappearance of hundreds of armed insurgents and alleged sympathizers during the campaign against leftists. By the 1990s a host of organizations, largely academic and legal in nature, had developed to address these abuses. These groups were instrumental in developing literature and curricula on human rights issues but did little to create the political groundswell necessary for institutional implementation. The labor side accord of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) of 1997 brought human rights to the forefront. In response to international pressure, the Salinas administration surprised the human rights community by appointing an ombudsman to the state level National Human Rights Commission, which had the effect of legitimizing human rights concerns.

However, the failure of these efforts to integrate human rights throughout the judicial system has left the existing pattern of human rights abuses, particularly impunity for crimes, unmodified. The receipt of more than 800 petitions from Mexican nationals by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) led President Vicente Fox to make a strong commitment to human rights upon taking office. However, half-way through his term, Fox has failed to deliver on promises that had raised the hopes of the human rights community during his transition to power.

Fox’s Human Rights Initiatives

In 2001, Fox established a special prosecutor’s office to investigate and prosecute past acts of political violence. He created a high office in the Ministry of the Interior in response to the still unresolved death of a human rights activist, Digna Ochoa, and later nominated a special prosecutor to investigate the unsolved murders of women and girls in Ciudad Juaréz. The creation of the office in the Ministry of the Interior led to the development of an intersecretarial mechanism to carry out the human rights agenda by bringing together civil society, the military, the Ministry of Health and other parties.

Central to the administration’s efforts was a two-pronged foreign policy strategy developed by former foreign minister Jorge Castañeda. The strategy harnessed Mexico’s 23 trade agreements as institutional mechanisms to address human rights and brought resources to bear through Castañeda’s announcement to the international community that Mexico required cooperation to deal with their human rights situation. He extended an open invitation to all bodies to visit Mexico. This unprecedented effort had a tremendous effect on human rights communities internationally. Within two years, 12 rapporteur visits to Mexico had created a momentum that galvanized civil society. The Mexican government soon became versed in speaking about human rights issues with other countries.

As part of a Technical Cooperation Agreement, the UNHCHR in 2002 produced a comprehensive report that documented ongoing human rights problems and provided detailed recommendations for addressing them. The Fox administration has since committed itself to developing a national human rights program based on the report’s recommendations.

The Future of Human Rights and Democracy in Mexico

The UN process has started to bring in domestic and international stakeholders. However, while these developments are encouraging, Acosta foresees a turbulent future for democracy and human rights in Mexico. The human rights problem is twofold: a lack of political participation on the part of the people and a lack of agreement on human rights among the political elite. Acosta explained how in a stagnant economy with high income disparity, Mexico’s social conditions create a context where citizens must prioritize their basic human needs over democratic political participation.

In recent years the quality of health and social services has declined, leading to increased legal and illegal labor migration to the U.S. along with concomitant increases in financial remittances to Mexico. Increased violence, drug-trafficking and organized crime have led to an epidemic of public insecurity that has been met by an incapable security apparatus. Civil society, once mobilized to promote democratic elections, is now weak and fragmented without a common cause around which to organize. At the same time, an authoritarian mindset continues to pervade Mexican institutions despite Fox’s free and fair election. In essence, the powers that have a hold on today’s state apparatus were designed for another, nondemocratic regime.

Fox recently announced reforms last week based on UNHCHR’s diagnostic results: a bill to overhaul the justice and public security systems. However, the fate of this bill is unclear, as Fox’s party, the PAN (Partido de Acción Nacional) has no legislative majority. It will, however, be part of an agenda that will hopefully create some new spaces for consensus and restructuring along democratic lines.

In closing, Acosta responded to several questions about her role in the human rights movement in Mexico over time. As an active member of civil society she founded several human rights organizations. The last organization she founded spearheaded the movement that shifted the human rights dialogue from the domestic to the international sphere by bringing Mexico’s foreign policy strategy to the international community. She reported that her governmental experiences included moments that were both the most traumatic and exciting in her career. Her decision to join a right-wing government resulted in a high level of distrust where she encountered resistance at many levels though she was given a great deal of space for her work. In general, she felt that people with a civil society background have a hard time advancing the human rights agenda because they are neither part of the “old boys’ networks” of political parties nor a part of bureaucracy.

Acosta also responded to a question concerning the upcoming trial of former federal security chief Miguel Nazar Haro who was arrested in Mexico City to face charges for his alleged participation in the 1975 forced disappearance of a member of a leftist guerrilla organization. Acosta was not optimistic about the trial given that Nazar is still politically well connected. Further, his son, who operates one of the most important private security companies for the transportation industry in Mexico will be carrying his defense. For this reason, Acosta emphasized that the trial must become an international issue. Human Rights Watch will be covering these events.

Mariclaire Acosta, former subsecretary for Human Rights and Democracy
in the Secretariat of Foreign Relations Office in Mexico, is a member of the
Advisory Council on Foreign Relations for the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL). She presented "Human Rights in Mexico in the Context of the Transition to Democracy" at the Women’s Faculty Club, March 18, 2004.