MEXICO ORGANIZES AN INTERACTIVE PANEL ON HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE UN

• Ambassador Gómez Robledo said that Mexico wants to be a member of the Human Rights Council in 2014-2016.

The Permanent Mission of Mexico to the United Nations, in collaboration with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the International Development Law Organization (IDLO), organized a panel on the promotion and protection of human rights and the importance of harmonizing the domestic legal framework with international obligations and standards: the constitutional reform of human rights in Mexico. The panel was held in the UN headquarters in New York.

Ambassador Juan Manuel Gómez Robledo, the Foreign Ministry’s Undersecretary for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights, participated on the panel and gave an overview of the process of harmonizing the national legal framework with Mexico’s international obligations on human rights. He specifically discussed the scope of the 2011 constitutional reform on human rights.

Ambassador Gómez Robledo said that Mexico wants to be a member of the Human Rights Council for the 2014-2016 term in order to continue helping to strengthen it and to further benefit from the dialogue and cooperation amongst all of the international human rights mechanisms. The Undersecretary also mentioned Mexico's most important contributions to human rights at the international level and its active participation on the Human Rights Council since its creation in 2006. Gómez Robledo also recognized the important role of the international human rights mechanisms in the process of legislative harmonization and civil society organizations.

The panel was also comprised of Ivan Šimonović, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, and Patrizio Civili, IDLO Permanent Observer to the United Nations, who highlighted Mexico’s progress in human rights and the steps that should be taken to ensure their full implementation. It was attended by the Permanent Representatives and officials of the Permanent Missions accredited to the United Nations, civil society representatives and UN officials.