First Report of the President of the Human Rights Commission Rosario Piedra Ibarra

Let there be no doubt: in the face of the governments, whether federal, state or municipal, in the face of any omissive authority, we will be on the side of the people, on the side of the victims.

We have a National Commission that is more autonomous than ever, not only from the government but also from political parties and economic groups, because what we have today is an ombudsman’s office, whether they like the word “people” or not. It is not true that it is an old-fashioned concept, the people are represented by the citizens of this country without distinction of social class or condition.

The Mexican state must guarantee the protection and access to health of the people and we are vigilant that they comply with their constitutional obligations, particularly in the national vaccination campaign and if it is necessary to denounce, we will denounce.

The challenge of redressing the historical violations of human rights in Mexico will not be achieved overnight, but we are on the right path. It has not been easy to do so because we are removing vices and interests, but we are firmly advancing towards a new model of protection and defense of human rights that will result in a new attention to citizens.

I am convinced that this is the time to reform the front institutions such as the National Human Rights Commission, I have no doubt that all the work done so far, and exposed here, is proof that there is a change.
The CNDH was born from a demand of the people but, in its conception, the vision of power, of the rulers and of the dominant economic model prevailed. Paradigms imported from apparently autonomous but absolutely defenseless institutions, which allowed governments to export without risk an image of democratic and respectful of rights, facade institutions whose autonomy was as broad as the government in power needed it and as short as its complicity with power forced it to be, because in reality those governments were the biggest violators of human rights.

That model has shown that it cannot work at this time, that model is in crisis, its inadequacy is more than proven, so we have to advance beyond what the law contemplates. We are doing our part as best we can, within our reduced margins, but with the total conviction that the way forward today is different.
To begin by reducing the bureaucratic administrative apparatus that turned human rights defenders into a golden caste. With this new CNDH, resources will go primarily to the attention to victims, less apparatus and less high salaries, which translates into more awareness of the responsibility of being human rights defenders and more budget for better functioning of the substantive bodies that receive complaints, that make recommendations and those in charge of monitoring compliance with them.

We invoke our own tradition, the fact that the defense and protection of human rights has its own peculiar antecedent in our country, which is not limited to recommendations and complaints, It is the Office of the Ombudsman for the Poor, promoted by Ponciano Arriaga as a local deputy in San Luis Potosí and issued on March 5, 1947, with the purpose of defending the people from abuse, excesses, wrongs, humiliation and mistreatment committed by any authority, in addition to having the power to denounce and request the corresponding reparation of damages.
We want the Commission to issue recommendations that will be attended to and become binding, not to attend exclusively to the poor, because human rights belong to everyone, nor to supplant the courts and the prosecutors’ offices, but to ensure that the role of the Commission becomes that of a people’s ombudsman, allowing it to transcend the merely testimonial or to be dependent on the good will of the authorities to comply with a recommendation or a complaint.

Let there be no doubt: in the face of governments, whether federal, state or municipal, in the face of any omissive authority, we will be on the side of the people, on the side of the victims. Before you, I can say with pride and certainty that in 2020 we defended the people, and when I say people, I mean all Mexicans without exception. That is my mission and my only commitment.