Urgent UN to approve reform on the right to consultation

Of the writing

La Jornada newspaper
Sunday, August 10, 2025, p. 4

On the International Day of Indigenous Peoples, which was commemorated yesterday, the Office in Mexico of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCT) reiterated the importance of advancing with the development of the General Law on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and Aphromexicans, provided for in the constitutional reform, ensuring the consultation and participation of these communities in their construction and adoption.

He indicated that despite the important advances and the multiple efforts carried out by the Mexican State, the original peoples continue to face significant challenges, such as unequal access to the land, exclusion in decision -making processes, attacks against indigenous defenders, as well as various forms of discrimination.

He also stressed the importance of recognizing and protecting the rights of these communities as part of the efforts to face different problems.

In a statement, the UN-DH once again highlighted the approval in 2024, of the constitutional reform in the field of indigenous and Afromexican peoples and communities in Mexico, which constitutes a very significant advance on which it can continue to be built.

This change in the Constitution, deepened, consolidates important advances for the strengthening of collective rights, in accordance with the international standards recognized in the United Nations Declaration for Human Rights of Indigenous Peoples and other instruments.

Among other aspects, the reform recognizes indigenous peoples and communities as subjects of public law and affirms the rights to self -determination, autonomy, their own legal systems, cultural identity, consultation and consent, as well as biocultural heritageheld.