San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas. México
09 de febrero de 2009
Press release 04

Mexico before the United Nations Human Rights Council
Universal Periodic Review

? The state of human rights is investigated in Mexico

Tomorrow, the 10th of February, the Mexican state will be examined by
the Human Rights Council of the United Nations, via the Universal
Periodic Review (UPR), a body in whose creation Mexico was a driving
force.

Through the national network of civil human rights organizations,
Every Right for Everyone?, this Centre presented information about the
status of Human Rights in Chiapas, which was integrated into the
report that the civil society organizations handed over to the United
Nations, destined for the Universal Periodic Review of Mexico.

The international reputation that Mexico tries to establish as a
promoter of human rights is contradictory to it´s internal politics.
The situation of human rights within the country is at a critical
point: the violations of human rights are increasingly alarming:
Oaxaca, Guerrero, Guadalajara and Atenco are just a few examples in
which the municipal and state authorities responsible continue to
operate unpunised.

In Chiapas, the human rights violations are connected to legitimate
struggles in defence of the land and the territory of indigenous
people, to the demand for justice, to the struggle against impunity of
those responsible, to social protest and to the defence and promotion
of human rights.

Additional, disproportional and unjustified use of public force,
police operations, out-of-court executions, forced disappearances,
arbitrary deprivation of freedoms, torture, intimidation, harassment,
comparison of demonstrators with criminals, hardening of laws and
crimes like that of Attacks Against Peace (Atentados Contra la Paz)
where it depends on the judge to interpret expressions like ?any other
violent means? and ?trying to harm the state authority or putting
pressure on it in order to force a resolution?, creation of the crime
of inciting violence, military presence in indigenous communities,
counter-insurgent actions of armed civil groups are ways the
government creates a climate of fear amongst the population.

Furthermore, the actions of human rights defenders, in their function
of promoting, documenting and defending the cases, are generally
obstructed by authorities of procuration and the justice system.

We would like to remind the Government of Chiapas and the municipal
district councils that this form of governing is a regression on its
obligation to guarantee, protect and promote the human rights and the
fundamental liberties of all.

The Centre for Human Rights Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas, hopes that
the Mexican state accepts and complies the recommendations made by the
Universal Periodic Review and that with regard to its internal
politics substantial progress in human rights will be made, and that
this will be reflected in the actions taken by the states and
municipalities within the country.