Since 2009, the United Nations and the Organization of American States have issued numerous international human rights recommendations to Mexico on torture, disappeared persons, aggression against human rights defenders and journalists, and violence against women. The Government of Mexico has addressed these concerns by elevating Mexico’s obligations under international treaties to the level of its constitution, developing a National Protection Mechanism for Human Rights Defenders and Journalists, and empowering federal authorities to investigate and prosecute human rights violators. 

USAID advances the protection of human rights and prevents abuses by providing technical assistance to the Mexican Government and strengthening civil society efforts on human rights protection, public outreach and awareness-raising of human rights violations at a national level. USAID promotes the incorporation of human rights-based approaches into federal and state-level policies, and facilitates dialogue and engagement between the Government of Mexico and civil society on human rights issues.

USAID continues to support criminal justice sector reforms through building the Mexican governmental capacity to assist victims of human rights abuses and training criminal justice sector operators, including the police, on human rights protection.

Human rights remain a critical component of sustainable security efforts and are an integral part of the Merida Initiative, a strategy for regional security cooperation between Mexico and the United States.

Key Achievements

• USAID played a key role in supporting the GOM to in standing up its Protection Mechanism, which currently, provides protection measures over 500 human rights defenders and journalists.
• USAID human rights-related activities reached beneficiaries in 22 states and trained over 1,400 journalists on self-protection and digital security to help them safely conduct their work.
• Local CSOs, supported by USAID, played an indispensable role in squarely placing the issue of torture by security forces on the public policy agenda.
• USAID’s support to more than 30 local CSOs, nearly half of them outside of Mexico City, contributed to the growing strength of civil society in Mexico, to address human rights violations.
• USAID is supporting the GOM’s development of its action-oriented National Human Rights Plan, 2014‑2018, through targeted technical assistance. 

Human Rights Fact Sheet (Nov 2015) [PDF, 42K]