Translated by Helena Redman
The office of the UN High Commission for Human Rights in Mexico has urged President Peña Nieto to soon present a law initiative on the subject of forced disappearances, and has asked the Congress to approve this proposal for a new law as soon as it is received.
Jesús Peña, the representative of the office, maintained that faced with the destructive phenomenon of forced disappearances, an integral legislative response is needed in the terms recommended by the UN work group.
Participating in a human rights forum that took place in the Attorney General’s office (PGR), Peña stated that one of the main pending issues is the secondary legislation for the constitutional reforms in human rights and criminal justice.
For her part, Mariana Benítez, Deputy Attorney General for international affairs of the PGR, announced that next October the UN will evaluate the Mexican government with respect to human rights, using the Universal Periodical Exam Mechanism (MEPU).
This will be the second time that Mexico has been involved with this tool of the Human Rights Council, after the exercise carried out in February 2009. The MEPU is applied in each of the 193 UN member states. It is a way of evaluating each member state’s accomplishment of its obligations and commitments concerning human rights.
The deputy attorney of the PGR assured that
"the conviction (of the federal government) is that human rights are the guiding principal of the State’s actions. We cannot be complacent and stop at this; there are many challenges in this field, including legislative ones.
"The most important challenge is for these principles, these rules of fundamental rights expressed in the constitution, to become reality, that they be in force and be real for everybody, whether they are living in or passing through this country."The objectives of the MEPU are to contribute to the improvement of the human rights situations in all countries.
It also intends to encourage the fulfillment of the obligations and commitments of the country and evaluate the advances and challenges in this field, strengthen the abilities of the states, provide technical assistance and exchange best practices, as well as encourage full cooperation between all the member states, the council, the high commissioner’s office and other human rights bodies. Spanish original