Activists Claim Mexico Ducks Commitment to Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Emilio Godoy - Inter Press Service
go to original July 17, 2013

“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. (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.

Read the rest at Inter Press Service

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