Protecting human rights and dignity during health crises.

During the inauguration of the International Forum on “The International Decade for People of African Descent 2015-2024: A Mid-Term Review,” Rosario Piedra said that although the second article of the Constitution recognizes indigenous and Afro-Mexican peoples and communities as part of the multicultural composition of the nation, much remains to be done for this mandate to be translated into public policies and operating rules that allow them to achieve better living conditions.

The meeting was attended by the former member of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination of the United Nations (UN), Pastor Elías Murillo; the national coordinator of Anthropology of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), Paloma Bonfil Sánchez; the Senator of the Republic, María Celeste Sánchez Sugía; the director general of the Fourth Visitaduría General, Arely López Pérez, and the executive secretary of the CNDH, Francisco Estrada Correa, as well as members of Afro-Mexican communities, researchers and specialists from different countries, called on governmental, autonomous, academic, civil and international organizations to join efforts to protect their fundamental rights.

In closing the work of the forum, the Executive Secretary of the CNDH, Francisco Estrada Correa, said that a permanent demand of the Afro-descendant populations is to be made visible by the States, so it is necessary to protect their political, economic, social, cultural and environmental rights, especially because of the fragility in which they live by being exposed to greater levels of insecurity.  living in poorer areas, insufficient access to basic health and education services, as well as difficulties in accessing jobs, problems that must be addressed in a comprehensive manner.