WK 227 Investing in Strategy Building

Examine the strategy used by the Mexican government executive branch to put human rights at the center of foreign policy in order to mobilize international resources for human rights.

Presenter

Mariclaire Acosta, Former Undersecretary of Foreign Relations for Human Rights and Democracy, Mexico

• Read Mariclaire Acosta’s presentation outline

In 2001, in response to pressure from the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights, President Vicente Fox of Mexico established a special prosecutor’s office in the Ministry of the Interior to investigate past acts of political violence. This led to the development of an inter-secretarial 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: harnessing Mexico’s 23 trade agreements as institutional mechanisms to address human rights and announcing to the international community that Mexico required cooperation to deal with their human rights situation. 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. Historically, Mexico has been an active promoter of human rights within the international arena. Yet at the national level, the Mexican criminal justice system routinely fails to provide justice to victims of violent crime and human rights abuses. One way Mexico has addressed this problem is by involving the international community by including human rights policies and requirements in international trade and policy agreements.