Towards a National Human Rights System

Abstract

A re-organization of the national and local human rights commissions in Mexico is needed to address certain aspects that would allow them to better fulfill their constitutional mandate of protecting the victims of human rights violations. Said changes are required in three particular aspects: to determine in a (more) precise manner the competence of these public institutions; to delineate (or reformulate) the jurisdiction ratione materiae of the commissions in accordance with the current challenges that Mexico faces; and lastly, to ensure that the human rights commissions work in a coordinated and systemic manner, in order for the national system to have the ability to gather clear statistics on the main challenges or human rights violations throughout the country. Addressing these issues would allow the national system to contribute more efficiently to the development of "tailored" human rights policies.