PRESS RELEASE

N° 43/07

 

IACHR PRESIDENT MEETS WITH PRESIDENT OF MEXICO

            Washington, August 8, 2007 —  At the start of his visit to Mexico, being made at the invitation of the government, the President of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), Florentín Meléndez, was received by the President of Mexico, Felipe Calderón. The IACHR President thanked President Calderón for Mexico’s support of the inter-American human rights system, as well as its willingness to grant consent for visits by the Commission.

            Regarding the human rights situation in the country, the IACHR President recognized the important progress that has been seen recently in Mexico. Specifically, the IACHR President applauded the advances made in laws and jurisprudence in the area of freedom of expression, and recognized Mexico for having ratified all the inter-American system’s human rights treaties. He also noted as a step forward the establishment of a National Preventive Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture, as required by the Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention against Torture.

            The meeting included an exchange of information on issues the Commission has been following in Mexico, such as the National Human Rights Program; the response by the State to the murders of women in Ciudad Juárez; the importance of investigating crimes of the past, as well as murders and aggressions committed against journalists; and the need to limit the military’s jurisdiction strictly to crimes in the line of duty. Other issues discussed included the situation of indigenous peoples and the IACHR’s visit to Oaxaca, which began today.

            Dr. Meléndez thanked President Calderón for the federal government’s cooperation in planning and implementing the Commission’s visit.

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