Follow up to urgent action 994: indigenous rights and the Mexican Supreme Court

Dear Friends:

In Urgent Action #994 (July 12th 2002), we forwarded a message from SIPAZ asking for letters to be written to the ministers of the Mexican Supreme Court regarding their deliberations on the constitutionality of the law on indigenous rights that was approved in 2001 by the present Mexican Congress as well as by a majority of the state legislatures.

In view of the fact that August 9th is the International Day of Indigenous Peoples, we have decided to send you our translation of the August 5th message to the Supreme Court of Mexico that was signed by many indigenous authorities and by social and human rights organizations (including the Miguel Agustín Pro Human Rights Centre, the Fray Bartólome de Las Casas Human Rights Centre, and Ce–Acatl).

Considering:

That we indigenous peoples are not in agreement with the procedure and the content of the Constitutional Reform on indigenous rights and culture, which was approved in 2001, and that for this reason our municipal authorities and agrarian representatives have presented constitutional complaints and injunctions.

That the executive branch of government has only pretended to listen to the complaints of the indigenous peoples, in order to satisfy the requirements of public opinion at home and abroad.

That the legislative branch has demonstrated its lack of respect for established procedures regarding legislation on indigenous matters as well as its inability to represent the will of the indigenous peoples and of the Mexican people.

That the judicial branch (despite its failure to accept the expert testimony and the first–hand evidence that we tried to present) holds in its hands the possibility of instructing the Mexican state to do justice to the indigenous peoples of Mexico.

The indigenous peoples and organizations that have come together in the City of Mexico on August 3rd and 4th, 2002, in order to give continuity to the process of presenting constitutional complaints to the Supreme Court, make the following DECLARATION:

The Supreme Court of Justice should receive all the evidence that we present and listen to our words.

The Supreme Court must fulfill its historic responsibility by making a positive decision on the constitutional complaints presented by our municipalities.

The Supreme Court should recognize Covenant 169 of the International Labour Organization as the supreme law and its decision should conform with the provisions of Covenant 169 on the right to consultation in accordance with our own forms and procedures. (SJC comment: Article 19 of Covenant 169 stipulates that "indigenous peoples have the right to participate fully ... at all levels of decision–making in matters which may affect their rights, lives, and destinies through representatives chosen by themselves in accordance with their own procedures.")

The Supreme Court has the opportunity of seeing that the San Andres Accords are respected and, in so doing, of contributing to peace in Mexico.

The executive and legislative branches have failed our peoples. Today the Supreme Court has the opportunity of calling the Mexican state to account. A negative decision with regard to our complaints would destroy the trust that we have placed in the Court.

We will not accept any consultations conducted by the executive or legislative branches of government, in order to make changes to the laws regarding indigenous peoples, until such time as the Supreme Court of Mexico has defined its position in relation to our right to be consulted. We call upon them to respect the unity of the Mexican state.

We indigenous peoples will not cease our struggle until our rights are properly enshrined in the Mexican Constitution – in the terms in which these rights are expressed in the San Andres Accords and the COCOPA legislative bill. In order to achieve this, we are ready to use all of the peaceful means at our disposal. We indigenous peoples do not wish to foster a climate of violence. But we do expect justice.

Finally we call upon national and international civil society to keep a close watch on the proceedings of the Supreme Court. We also exhort the indigenous peoples to strengthen their autonomy processes. (SJC comment: A number of indigenous communities and municipalities are engaged in setting up parallel autonomous local institutions. Efforts of this kind vary from the approximately forty Zapatistas autonomous municipalities of Chiapas to the indigenous community police who have been struggling for legal recognition in Guerrero.)

For full recognition of the rights of indigenous peoples

Yes to the San Andres Accords

Yes to the Cocopa Bill

No to the Bartlet, Cevallos, Ortega Reform (SJC comment: the law that the indigenous peoples have rejected and that they are asking the Supreme Court to declare unconstitutional has been popularly named for the three members of the Mexican Congress who were particularly instrumental in its passage.)

Additional information:

In the absence of constitutional recognition of the San Andres Accords and of respect for the provisions of ILO Covenant 169, the social climate in Chiapas continues to cause grave concern. It was reported in today's issue of the newspaper La Jornada that José Vázquez Gutiérrez, the president of Las Abejas, in a statement regarding the massacre of Las Abejas members which took place in Acteal on December 22nd 1997, stated that those who planned the massacre and many of those who carried it out have not been arrested (SJC comment: or in some cases have already been released from prison) and that there are still twenty–seven outstanding arrest warrants, which the federal government appears to have lost interest in putting into effect. Furthermore, some of the people in question have bought more arms. Sr. Vázquez sees a serious risk of more violence in the municipality of Chenalho if the federal and state authorities fail to take action with regard to the prevailing situation..

According to August 3rd's La Jornada, on July 31st 2002, a group of forty armed supporters of the PRI (the Institutional Revolutionary Party, which was the former government in Mexico and which, although it lost the state governorship in 2000, still holds a majority of the seats in the Chiapas state legislature) from the community of San Antonio Escobar attacked the Zapatista civilian community of the La Culebra Ejido in the Ricardo Flores Magón Autonomous Municipality. Seven people were wounded with machetes and knives by the attackers. This is reportedly the first incident of its sort in or near the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve. Spokespersons for the Ricardo Flores Magón Autonomous Municipality believe that the armed group has the support of the detachment of the Mexican army that is based in the nearby community of Cintalapa. They see the incident as a possible first step in the eviction of the communities in and around Montes Azules.

Recommended action:

Please respond as soon as possible to Urgent Action #994 making use of the model letter in Spanish sent to SIPAZ.

If you have already sent the above letter and have time to write another, please write to President Fox reminding him that August 9th is the International Day of Indigenous Peoples and expressing your concern with regard to the situation in Chiapas and to reports of violations of indigenous rights in other Mexican states. Please stress the importance of full compliance with the San Andres Accords (which were signed by the previous government and in principle accepted by the Fox government) and of respect for the provisions of ILO Covenant 169, which has been signed and ratified by Mexico.

Please write to the Canadian government pointing out the continued need for Mexico to respect the provisions of ILO Covenant 169 and expressing your concern with regard to the neoliberal programmes such as the Plan Puebla Panama and the Free Trade Area of the Americas that would appear to threaten indigenous rights. (According to Article 30 of Covenant 169, "indigenous peoples have the right to determine and develop priorities and strategies for the development or use of their lands, territories, and other resources, including the right to require that States obtain their free and informed consent to the approval of any project affecting their lands, territories and other resources.")

Addresses:

Lic. Vicente Fox Quesada

Presidente de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos

Residencia Oficial de Los Pinos

Col. San Miguel Chapultepec, Mexico D.F., C.P. 11850, MEXICO

fax: 011 52 55 522 4117 or 516 9537 or 515 1794 vicente@fox2000.org.mx or

radio@presidencia.gob.mx or go to

www.gob.mex and from there to interactivo@ to send a message. If you have access to a fax

machine and are able to get through, the fax method, being less impersonal, is probably more

effective. If you live in Ottawa or in a city where there is a Mexican consulate, they will almost certainly be

willing to forward a fax to President Fox's office on your behalf.

Please send copies of your letters to President Fox to the following government officials:

Dr. José Luis Soberanes Fernández

Presidente de la Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos

Periférico Sur 3469, Col. San Jerónimo Lidice

C.P 10200, México D.F., MEXICO

fax: 011 52 55 681 7199 correo@cndh.org.mx

Lic. Mariclaire Acosta, Subsecretaria de Derechos Humanos y Democracia

fax: 011 52 55 117 4334 or 327 3195 afranco@sre.gob.mx or macosta@sre.gob.mx

Her Exellency Maria Teresa Garcia Segovia

Ambassador for Mexico

45 O'Connor St, suite 1500, Ottawa, Ont. K1P 1A4

fax 613 235 9123 info@embamexcan.com

For Canada:

Hon. Bill Graham

Minister of Foreign Affairs

125 Sussex Drive, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0G2

fax: 613 996 9607 Graham.b@parl.gc.ca

Ms. Susan Gregson, Director

Human Rights, Humanitarian Affairs and International Women's Equality Division (AGH)

Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade

B4 – 125 Sussex Drive

fax: 613 943 0606 susan.gerson.agh@dfait-maeci.gc.ca