Reforms to Law of Amparo Ideal to Protect Collective Indigenous Rights - Mexico Supreme Court President CNN Mexico
go to original April 18, 2013

With the amendments to the Law of Amparo*, this legal right becomes an ideal instrument for the procedural defense of the collective rights of indigenous peoples, said the President of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN), Juan Silva Meza.

With the amendments, the indigenous that seek legal protection will not need to demonstrate a subjective right in order to be considered affected and seek the protection of the federal courts, Silva said at the launch of the "Action Protocol for those who administer justice in cases involving the rights of individuals, communities and indigenous peoples".

"The collective will of an indigenous people now has the legal mechanisms to be effectively protected in the interest of the conservation of the features of identity that allow historical continuity and a life developed according to their own culture expressed in life styles, social institutions and economic policies," said Silva, according to Notimex.

According to the justice, the reforms will allow the legal system and the judges to respond from a language of rights to old problems like the lack of access by indigenous people to the justice administered by the State.

Read the rest at Mexico Voices

*MV Note: 'Amparo', literally 'protection', is a legal right granted in the Mexican Constitution to individuals and corporations that they may appeal to successively higher courts for an order of protection against an action by any level of government they believe to be violating their rights. In U.S. law, the amparo is comparable to an injunction to block a government action or an appeal of a judicial decision, including a criminal conviction.

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