Human Rights Protection in Mexico: A Historical Analysis

Posted on Dec 18, 2024 in Law & Jurisprudence

Human Rights in the Mexican Legal System

As a starting point, we remark that man, from living in society, provided for the existence of legal norms to regulate social relations in order to seek peace and social justice, but above all, that give security and legal certainty. Throughout history, many instruments are designed to defend the fundamental rights of people, including the figure of the Ombudsman, which is the legal instrument or means that has endured.

The institution of the Ombudsman has acquired a naturalization certificate in Latin American countries, of which Mexico is no exception. However, the conception of human rights has varied throughout history and has evolved through an agreement with the needs of each country, ensuring in most cases the defense of human rights more effectively, to achieve a better life in society.

During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, there were revolutionary movements taking out France as the axis, and spread through Europe and reached the Americas, which originated independence struggles and the emergence of American nations themselves. The overriding principles of the seventeenth century led to authoritarian political and economic systems, against which react during the next century.

In the eighteenth century, a movement emerged clearly that raised the issue of Human Rights, launched by the Bill of Rights 1776 in Virginia, which were consolidated with the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen in 1789 in France, plasma the ideas of the French Revolution.

In the first half of the twentieth century, many constitutions developed in the field of Human Rights, extending to economic, social, and cultural rights, as is the case of the first political and social constitution of the world, the Mexican Constitution of 1917, subsequently the Weimar Constitution of 1919, Spain’s Constitution of 1931, and at that time of the USSR in 1936, which created economic and social rights but avoided by civilians and politicians.

Internationally, these rights are first mentioned in the Society of Nations, through the Treaty of Versailles on June 28, 1919. After the Second World War, during the spring of 1945, he carried out the drafting of the United Nations Charter, which served as a starting point for The Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

In January 1947, he joined the Human Rights Commission of the United Nations Organization, with the participation of 18 countries which adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December 10, 1948.

Bill of Rights of Virginia, June 12, 1776

Note that is composed of sixteen points, which highlights the following pronouncements:

1. That all men are by nature equally free and independent and may not be deprived of enjoyment of life, the enjoyment of liberty and property.
2. That all power belongs to and leads to the village.
3. That the government should be created for the common benefit, protection, and security of people, in addition to the forms of government, the best is one that is capable of generating the greatest degree of happiness and security protecting mismanagement.
4. That no person or group of persons are entitled to exclusive or special emoluments or privileges of the community.
5. That the legislative and executive powers should be separate and distinct from the judiciary.
6. That elections to assemblies of representatives of the people must be free, and all the men behind the franchise.
7. May the power suspend the laws or enforceable by any authority without the consent of representatives of the people is injurious to their rights and should not be executed.
8. That in all criminal penalties or the person is entitled to:
   • Know the cause of the accusation.
   • Confront the accusers and witnesses.
   • The taking of evidence in its favor.
   • A speedy trial by an impartial jury.
   • Not to be compelled to testify against himself.
   • No person shall be deprived of his liberty except under the law of the country or trial of their peers.
9. May not require excessive bail, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
10. That orders, under which suspects are instructed to record places without evidence of the commission of the act, or the arrest of unnamed persons, or whose absence is not adequately identified or tested, are offensive and oppressive, and should not be allowed, that in property disputes and litigation between individuals, the ancient trial by jury is preferable to any other and should be kept sacred.
11. That freedom of the press is a bulwark of freedom and can never be restricted.
12. That the militia is the natural and safe defense of a free state, the armies in peacetime should be avoided as a threat to peace, and that the militants must be subordinate to civilian authority and governed by it.
13. That the people have a right to uniform government.
14. That no free government, nor the blessings of liberty can be preserved, by the people without a firm commitment to justice, moderation, temperance (sobriety), and virtue.
15. That all men are equal, right to free exercise of religion.

Human Rights in the Independence of Mexico: Hidalgo’s Proclamation

On September 16, 1810, the parish priest of Dolores, Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, called the people of Mexico to struggle for independence and an edict issued in Guadalajara, known as “Bando de Hidalgo”, which contained the order to freedom to all slaves, and prohibiting the levy (action to require taxes and fines), by reason of being “Indian” word was adapted by ignorance worth mentioning that the correct word is indigenous.

As is known, Father Hidalgo was killed a year later stripped of his ecclesiastical investiture and executed in Chihuahua, near Allende and Aldama, but the independence movement continued thanks to men like José María Morelos.

“Bando de Hidalgo”

Given in the city of Guadalajara on December 6, 1810, which referred to:

• That all slave owners must give them their freedom within ten days, on pain of death, that he applied for violation of this article.
• Hereafter cease by the contribution of taxes on it paid breeds, and any charge that the Indians were required.
• That all judicial business, documents, writings, and actions, we make use of ordinary paper, being abolished sealing.
• To anyone with instruction in the performance of the powder can dig it, without further obligation to prefer the government in sales for the use of their armies, being equally free all its component simple.

Sentiments of the Nation

Morelos called the First National Congress which was established in Chilpancingo, Guerrero state today, September 14, 1813, where he delivered his famous paper, “Sentiments of the Nation” composed of 23 points, among which:

1. That America is free and independent of Spain and any other nation, government, or monarchy.
2. That sovereignty emanates from them.
3. That the legislative, executive, and judicial are divided.
4. That as the good law is superior to every man, which dictates our Congress should be such that force constancy and patriotism.
5. To understand the general laws for all without exception of privileged bodies.
6. That slavery is prescribed forever and so the distinction between castes, with all the same.
7. That each property was saved and respected at home as a sacred asylum.
8. That the new legislation may not be supported torture.

Apatzingan Constitution of 1814

On October 22, 1814, Congress met and issued the call Apatzingan Constitutional Decree for the Mexican American freedom, it should be noted that the constitution contains a special chapter on individual guarantees, in which we find as an antecedent Defense of Human Rights and the Trial of Amparo that after the Constitution was instituted in 1841 and in Yucatan is reproduced:

• The declaration of Human Rights of Man and the Citizen, promulgated in France in 1789 under the name of individual rights.
• The structure of inalterability Government on this provision of the Constitution of Apatzingan, where lies the seed for the protection and safeguarding of human rights and individual guarantees are born there.

And we can identify such:

• The law must be equal for all.
• Only laws can determine where it should be accused, arrested, or detained any citizen.
• The happiness of the people and every one of its citizens.
• Every citizen refutation innocent until declared guilty.
• No one can be tried or sentenced, but after being heard by law.
• The house of any citizen is an inviolable asylum for the objects of criminal procedure should proceed with regard to requirements of law.
• All individuals in the society are entitled to acquire property.
• No citizen should be cut free to claim their rights before the public authority officials.
• Any kind of culture, industry may be excluded from citizenship.
• The freedom to speak, to discuss and express their opinions through the press, should not be prohibited from any citizen.

Constitution of 1824

The ephemeral Mexican Empire would lead to the constituent convened in 1823, would dictate the first constitution of the nascent State of Mexico, the constitution would also short-lived, the political circumstances, especially those concerning the struggle between centralist and federalist, hence gave no room for consolidation, but the dedication is evident mainly individual rights in criminal matters and strict application of the law. This established the need to organize the Mexican nation as a Federal Republic and did not establish a catalog of human rights.

The Constitution of 1836 and its Seven Laws

In 1836 the constitution was replaced in 1824 by so-called Seven Laws of the Constitution:

1. First Act .- consisting of 15 items in determining rights and obligations of Mexicans and people of the Republic.
   • To be arrested, it takes command of a competent court, moreover, that no individual can be detained for more than three days.
   • The individual should be tried by tribunals established in the Constitution, without admitting the retroactivity of the law.
   • You can not prevent the movement of people.
   • The Mexican citizen has the right to vote and to afford (popular vote in elections).
   • No one shall be deprived of their liberty.
   • You can search their homes and their roles, but in cases provided by law.
   • You can not censor their political ideas.
2. Second law .- It consists of 23 articles, establishes the organization of the conservative government also will be the means to substantiate compliance with the constitution, even acting ex officio or upon request by an interested party, it is noteworthy that in practice became uncontrollable and despotic power, so criticized and which was abolished).
3. Third law .- comprises 58 articles pertaining to the integration of the legislative branch and the formation of laws such as:
   • The exercise of legislative power is deposited in the Congress, which is composed of two chambers.
4. Fourth law .- for the organization of the supreme executive power consists of 24 articles:
   • The exercise of executive power is vested in a chief magistrate, to be named President and will last eight years in office.
5. Fifth law .- Judicial power of the Federation consists of 51 articles:
   • The Judiciary of the Republic is vested in a Supreme Court justice, Superior Court departments, the Treasury setting forth the relevant law and the courts of first instance.
6. Sixth law .- of the division of territory and government of the Republic within their villages, comprising 31 articles.
   • The Republic is divided into departments, districts, and districts in Match.
7. Seventh law .- valuation constitutional law, contained in 6 items and stated:
   • That in six years from the publication of this Constitution, no alteration may be made in any of its articles.
   • Only in General Congress resolved the doubts of constitutional articles.
   • Any public official to take possession, make oath to obey the constitutional laws.

Yucatecan Constitution, December 23, 1840, Published in the Year 1841

The Constitution of 1836, had instituted the Claimed Amparo against acts of expropriation without a public purpose, entrusting it to the Supreme Court in the capital and the departments concerned to the superior court suspended the execution claim to the failure.

In 1840, Don Miguel Garcia Cresenciano Manuel Rojas, prepared the first draft Constitution in the Yucatan, including the enumeration of individual rights; also noted that the Juicio de Amparo proceedings against any violation, even federal level, against all authority and pending before the state judiciary.

Reform Act of 1847

In 1847, reintroduced the federalism of the Constitution of 1824, says Mariano Otero, succeeded in re-propose the Federation of Amparo, so did the Juicio de Amparo federally regulated in Article 25 of the Reform Act of 1847, and was aimed at defending human rights through the guarantees of the individual, the characteristics of the proposed Otero, Amparo about 1847, are governed by ius early naturalists, and take action only against violations of securities.

Not so against acts of the executive and legislative branches, to act against the legislature, established a mixed control, which solved the great college comprising members of the Legislature and Executive, Amparo was improper acts of the federal judiciary or Local, moreover, states that to ensure human rights recognized by the Constitution, a law shall determine all the guarantees of freedom, security, property, and equality.

The Constitution of 1857

On February 5, 1857, date on which it holds the position of President Ignacio Comonfort constitution was promulgated and the title was first a section dedicated to human rights, its structure is equal to the chapter on individual guarantees the current Constitution, with the exception of social rights as enshrined in Articles 27 and 23 and 123, the Supreme Law of 1917.

Also Amparo was introduced, which would equal to the 1917 Constitution. Thus, we can say that the Constitution of 1857 recognizes the rights of man, because they have a strong burden of jus naturalism, unlike the 1917 constitution, where there is no mention of human rights, due to its jus purely positivist approach, since Article 1 states that individual rights are not pre-existing the Constitution, but are recognized by the Constitutional text.

The Constitution of 1917

In the Magna Carta of 1917, Mexico entered the so-called social security and social constitutionalism begins, looking at the social rights in Articles 27 and 123.

Making an analysis of the constitutions of 1857 and 1917 shows that human rights are abstract conceptions, with high leverage ius naturalist, while warranties are specific and individualized conceptions, as we noted that the difference is that the individual rights are the limits of government action precisely embodied in a constitutional and human rights are above and beyond the government, therefore, although not consecrated must recognize and respect.

Conceptualization of Human Rights

The concept of human rights is apparently not very significant and might be deemed that carries redundant, since all are human rights, the right to be a creation of man, which allows social harmony and peaceful coexistence.

Various contributions are to be found in the concept of what constitutes human rights, among which are the following:

• Ius Naturalist Doctrine .- Define human rights such as those inherent in human nature and essential impresendibles guarantees that requires an individual to live and grow as a person.
• Ius Positivist Doctrine .- Maintains that human rights are constitutionally enunciated as such, ie, the rights contained in the constitutions and laws of highest rank, namely so-called rights of man, as embodied in the constitutional policies states and within the established international declarations, treaties, and conventions on human rights.

Characteristics of Human Rights

Human rights have the following characteristics:

• They are universal and that human rights are for all people regardless of their origin, age, race, sex, color, political or religious, etc. Without distinction throughout the world must respect the fundamental rights of men and women.
• Permanent, because once you have achieved are set out in international public order or national level. Being recognized by the states, human rights, human rights should not disappear or be deleted and will continue over time, and are not subject to a term.
• Progressive, meet the individual and collective needs is a constant concern of mankind, these needs are not static, however, increase with the social, cultural, economic, and industrial community. Finally becoming an interest to be achieved.

General Principles of Human Rights

• Freedom, justice, and peace in the world based on the recognition of the inherent dignity and equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family.
• All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act as brothers to one another.
• The implementation of free human beings need conditions that allow each person to enjoy their civil, political, economic social, and cultural rights.
• The right of peoples to self determine their destiny and their economic, social, and cultural development is a prerequisite for enjoying the rights and freedoms.
• Promote the consolidation, within democratic institutions, a system of personal liberty and social justice based on the essential rights of man.
• The state can not destroy not restrict fundamental human rights.
• States are committed to absolutely respect individual rights and to achieve progressively the full realization of social, economic, and cultural.
• Have a historical dimension and constitute a common ideal for men and women of all peoples.

Generations of Human Rights

The best-known classification of human rights is one that distinguishes the call three generations of the same and the approach that is based newspaper is an approach based on the progressive coverage of human rights.

1. First Generation

   Surge with the French Revolution as a rebellion against the absolutism of the monarch. It is composed of the so-called civil and political rights. Impose on the State always respect fundamental human rights.

   Features

   • Or impose the state the duty to respect them always, can only be limited in cases and under the conditions provided in the Constitution.
   • Your claim is for the individual.
   • The first-generation rights distinction between rights and fundamental freedoms and civil and political rights.
   • Every human being has the right to recognition as a legal personality.
   • All are equal before the law, that is, all should apply equally.
   • Men and women have equal rights.
   • No one shall be held in slavery or servitude.
   • Everyone has the right to move freely to choose his residence.
   • Everyone has the right to a nationality.

2. Second Generation

   The type rights are collective, social, cultural, and economic. Arise from the Industrial Revolution in the old continent and, in Mexico, the 1917 Constitution included the Social Rights for the first time in the world, and constitute an obligation to the State and progressive satisfaction with the financial capacity of the.

   Features

   • Or enlarge the sphere of state responsibility, it imposes a positive duty to do by the state, meeting service needs.
   • Your claim is mediate and indirect is conditioned to the country’s economic possibilities.
   • Economic and social rights and cultural rights.
   • Everyone has the right to social security and obtain satisfaction of economic, social, and cultural rights.
   • Everyone has the right to work under equitable and satisfactory.
   • Everyone has the right to form unions to defend their interests.
   • Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for her and her family, health, food, clothing, housing, medical care, and necessary social services.
   • Everyone has the right to education in its various forms.

3. Third Generation

   Is formed by so-called peoples’ rights or solidarity. Arise in our time in response to the need for cooperation among nations, as well as different groups within it.

   Features

   • Inaccurate or belong to groups of people who have a common collective interest.
   • Or require performance of services for positive
   • The incumbent is the state, but can also be claimed against the State itself.
   • The rights of peoples are:
     • A self-determination.
     • In the economic and political independence.
     • The national and cultural identity.
     • Peace.
     • A peaceful coexistence.
     • The development.
     • International social justice.
     • The use of advances in science and technology.
     • To the solution of food problems, demographic, educational, and ecological.

Documents that Protect National and International Human Rights

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaimed by the UN General Assembly on December 10, 1948, whereas the lower price of human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which jeopardize the conscience of humanity was reaffirmed that freedom, justice, peace in the world based on the recognition of the dignity of men.

He also saw the need for human rights are protected by the rule of law, ie current legislation so that this Declaration was adopted as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, and through its education achieve universal recognition and effective application.

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

In order to strengthen the aforementioned declaration, the General Assembly of the UN adopted on December 16, 1966, pact, which came into force until March 23, 1976. In detailing the rights already provided by that statement and commits the signatory states to respect the rights protected.

Conclusion

Legal Framework, Article 102 paragraph B of the Constitution of the United Mexican States, and Article 78 of the Constitution of the Free and Sovereign State of Tlaxcala, as also the law of the State Human Rights Commission and Regulation Inside the State Human Rights Commission.

The State Human Rights Commission is an autonomous body with legal personality and its own, independently, their purpose is the protection enforcement, promotion, study, and dissemination of human rights in the state. Human rights are privileges attached to the persons for whom they can live in society and achieve expectations.