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Human Rights

Mexico Ducks Commitment to Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

“Do Not Throw Garbage or Rocks in the Lake”, Lagunas de Portobello National Park in Chiapas, Mexico. Environmental rights are covered by the OP-ICESCR. Credit: Mauricio Ramos/IPS

MEXICO CITY, Jul 17 2013 (IPS) - Civil society organisations are pressing the Mexican government to ratify the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, in force since May 2013.

The instrument, approved by the U.N. General Assembly in December 2008, is regarded as a key tool for fulfilling “third-generation” rights, such as access to healthcare, employment, water and a healthy environment.

“We have been calling for the protocol to be signed since it was negotiated,” Areli Sandoval, coordinator of DECA Equipo Pueblo (Social Watch Mexico), told IPS. “We are concerned to see the work of three years wasted; it is not a good sign. The government has not given a date for signing. They have behaved as if it is not important,” the activist said.

Starting in 2009, a group of civil society organisations worked with the government of conservative president Felipe Calderón (2006-2012) on signature of the convention, carrying out a number of consultations with the aim of clarifying the commitments that it would entail.

The information was ready in 2012. But according to Sandoval, Enrique Peña Nieto, elected president in July that year, urged the government not to take on any more international responsibilities until he took office on Dec. 1.

But more than seven months have gone by without any new developments, and activists are worried.

The Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (OP-ICESCR) has been signed by 42 states and ratified by 10 of them, including Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, El Salvador and Uruguay, in Latin America.

The OP-ICESCR went into force in May after it was ratified by Uruguay in February, as a minimum of 10 ratifications were needed.

A Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) monitors implementation of the ICESCR. States party to the Covenant must report periodically to the committee.

The optional protocol created a mechanism for individuals or groups to lodge complaints with the CESCR over violations of economic, social and cultural rights. It also established an inquiry mechanism, for the CESCR to investigate, report on and make recommendations on violations of the ICESCR by states party.

“The idea is to strengthen the justiciability (capability of being decided in a court) of these rights that have been long denied and neglected,” Agnieszka Raczynska, executive secretary of the Red Todos los Derechos para Todas y Todos (All Rights for All Network), which groups 73 Mexican human rights groups, told IPS.

In March, 33 civil society organisations presented a joint report ahead of the second cycle of the Universal Periodic Review of Mexico’s human rights record by the U.N. Human Rights Council. In it they give an account of economic, social, cultural and environmental rights in this country.

Structural and legislative deficiencies within the Mexican state mean that when economic, social, cultural and environmental rights violations occur, access to justice and reparations are limited, the report says.

These violations also affect the right to prior, free and informed consent of the people and communities involved in the implementation of mega-projects that generate forced displacement, deeper poverty and environmental damage and deny people’s cultural rights, it adds.

According to the latest figures from the National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy (CONEVAL), from 2010, 52 million of Mexico’s 118 million people were living below the poverty line.

The NGOs forming part of the Mexican Campaign for the Ratification of the OP-ICESCR see it as vital in the fight against poverty, as it creates accountability with regard to the country’s social policies.

“This protocol goes against economic interests and multinational corporations. If Mexico has accepted jurisdiction of other human rights mechanisms, there is no logical reason why it should not accept this one,” said Sandoval.

Mexico’s combined fifth and sixth periodic report on compliance with the ICESCR was due in 2012, and has not yet been presented.

The CESCR will hold its 51st session Nov. 4-29, 2013 in Geneva, Switzerland, but the case of Mexico is not on the agenda.

“There is a lack of guarantees for individual rights. Efforts are needed to reduce poverty and fulfil the rights to employment, healthcare and education,” said Raczynska.

The NGOs have collected over 19,000 signatures on a petition which they have handed over to the Mexican government, calling for ratification of the protocol. But activists say ratification is unlikely to occur this year.

The Peña Nieto administration is preparing a National Human Rights Programme for 2012-2018, which must be in line with directives on human rights included in the 2011 constitutional reform.

Although the constitution and several laws recognise the right to a protected environment, environmental policy is often not effective or sustainable because of technical flaws, or because it is not in harmony with other sectors and social policies, and due to the total impunity surrounding environmental offences, which also affect several human rights, says the petition delivered by the NGOs.

Given the doubts as to whether the Mexican state is going to present its official report on economic, social, cultural and environmental rights, civil society organisations are deciding whether to present a shadow report.

 
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