"Without the institutions to support a solid democracy, Mexico's vaunted political transformation will fail to deliver on its promise of a better future."
Mexico's Presidential Candidates Can't Ignore Calls for Human-Rights Reforms
The Chicago Tribune, June 26, 2000 Mexico Elections Home Page

Related Links
Related Material

Systemic Injustice: Torture, “Disappearance,” and Extrajudicial Execution in Mexico
Human Rights Watch Report, January 1999

More documents...
Mexico Elections

Use this document to Print
Sections

Human Rights: The Missing Campaign Plank

Elections and Human Rights

Crime and Economic Development

Mexico's Pending Human Rights Agenda
As Mexicans head to the polls on July 2, they will be participating in a process as closely watched for its procedure as for its outcome. In a political system widely denounced as blatantly fraudulent only a few years ago, recent reforms have provided a much cleaner electoral environment. Those changes have produced tangible results, but Mexico's transition to democracy must be judged by more than its progress on elections. The willingness of the authorities to address the country's serious human rights problems should be chief among the measures of democratic progress in Mexico. Mexico's human rights morass reflects the weaknesses of the institutions, including the justice system, that should support a solid democracy.

Without resolution of the country's human rights ills, even the freest and fairest elections will fail to deliver on the promise of a better future for Mexicans. It's not just that human rights violations themselves destroy the lives of so many Mexicans. In addition, human rights violations in Mexico undercut the country's broader policy goals, including economic development and crime prevention.

    Next Section