The Fox and the Wolf – mutual admiration despite ongoing abuse of human rights

Mexican government gives World Bank its highest honour and the World Bank president praises social justice efforts of Fox administration, but Mexican and international human rights groups condemn human rights record of both.

On Saturday, December 8th, the President of the World Bank, James Wolfensohn, was awarded the Aguila Azteca, the highest honour that the Mexican government bestows on citizens of other countries. It was reported that the Mexican government decided to honour Mr. Wolfensohn in recognition of his efforts to support Mexico and to bring about important reforms in World Bank policies – reforms which, in the opinion of the Mexican government, have led to a better and greater availability of development resources for Mexico and for many countries in the world.

According to reports in the Mexican press, Mr. Wolfensohn, for his part, stated that the World Bank wholeheartedly supports what the Mexican president is doing and that the Bank believes that the path that the President is following will lead his country to economic development and, above all, to social justice. The Bank trusts in the care that President Fox is taking, not only in relation to Mexico but as a leader of other countries, and it will support him in his concerns, which, in the opinion of the Bank, are, above all, the reduction of poverty and the development of Mexico.

The Social Justice Committee finds it ironic, and even shocking, that such enthusiastic World Bank praise for the Mexican government's alleged commitments to poverty reduction and social justice should come at the precise moment when Mexico is receiving strong criticism from national and international human rights organizations – including Amnesty International, the International Human Rights Federation, and the Miguel Agustín Pro Human Rights Centre.

In a statement released to the press on November 30th, at the end of President Fox's first year in office, Amnesty International "noted that the many outstanding human rights concerns in Mexico –including the use of torture, widespread impunity for human rights violations, and the role of military justice – are not being tackled effectively, if at all." The international organization concludes by saying that "the time for words is now over. After a year in power, President Fox must take concrete steps to convert his fine human rights rhetoric into real, tangible improvements throughout Mexico".

The International Human Rights Federation, in a very recently published report on Mexico, criticized the military influence in the civilian justice system, attacks on human rights defenders, Mexico's failure to comply with recommendations from the Inter–American human rights institutions, and violations of the rights of Mexico's native peoples.

The Miguel Agustín Pro Human Rights Centre in Mexico City, in an analysis of the human rights record of the Fox administration at the end of its first year, pointed out that in the government's five–year National Development Plan there is no mention of the topic of human rights. In addition to discussing outstanding cases of violations of civil and political rights as well as violations of the collective rights of Mexico's native peoples, the Pro Centre's report focuses on the negative human rights implications of President Fox's economic policies.

Following World Bank recommendations, the Mexican government is promoting more international and national investment in energy, water and communications infrastructure, especially in rural southern Mexico. The Pro Centre foresees that such large–scale infra–structure development projects (which also include the concentration of health and education services in industrial corridors) will lead to the eviction of rural people from their homes and land and to their conversion into cheap, unskilled labour for transnational industry and agro–industry. Such a process will facilitate the access of transnational companies to the mineral and bio–diversity wealth that is situated on lands now inhabited by native and non–native small farmers.

The Pro Centre also comments on the negative effects which the Fox government's proposed tax reforms will have on the socio–economic rights of poorer Mexicans. Among these proposals is a 15% value–added tax (GST) on food, medicines, and books, items that have until now been exempt from sales taxes of this kind.