International Human Rights Law Institute’s Indigenous Peoples Legal Clinic Prepared Reps to Plead Case Through the Inter-American Human Rights System

DePaul University’s International Human Rights Law Institute (IHRLI) is empowering representatives from indigenous communities in Mexico by giving them the training necessary to assert their legal rights through the Inter-American Human Rights System. With training from the institute’s Indigenous Peoples Legal Clinic, members of the Centro de Derechos Humanos y Asesoria a Pueblos Indigenas (CEDHAPI), a grassroots indigenous rights organization, were able to successfully navigate a hearing before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Their efforts resulted in a decision to, among other things, send a formal mission to Mexico to investigate human rights violations against indigenous peoples.

Participants in the clinic, which was established by IHRLI in 1999, include lawyers, teachers and social scientists, as well as local leaders with limited formal education. They come from throughout Mexico including the Guerrero, Oaxaca, Mexico City, Michoacan, and Yucatan and represent a number of indigenous groups including Mixtec, Purhepecha, Tojolabal, Triqui and Zapotec.

The clinic prepares participants to defend their human rights by exposing them to the range of legal protections available in their respective domestic systems. Throughout the training, participants manage a real-life case drawn from their community or area of expertise, which is used to provide hands-on learning of the applicable national and international substantive law and procedure. Training sessions are generally one week long. Currently, nearly 30 individuals are involved in the training throughout Mexico.

“The Inter-American System allows complaints to be filed in various ways that do not require formal legal training,” said Daniel Rothenberg, who manages the clinic and is the research director for the IHRLI. “The institute’s methodology seeks to empower activists to build on their skills and knowledge and to use the Inter-American System as one tool among many in the complex struggle to defend and protect indigenous rights.”

Putting the skills acquired though the clinic into action, clinic graduates recently appeared before the Inter-American Commission to present a case regarding numerous violations against indigenous people in the Mexican state of Oaxaca that arose out of a series of repressive actions directed against the Consejo Indígena Popular de Oaxaca “Ricardo Flores Magón” (CIPO), a grassroots indigenous rights organization.

Representatives from CIPO had participated in the clinic and soon after, tensions between the organization and the local government escalated. The result was a confrontation in which police tore down a protest site in the city of Oaxaca and arrested and detained many of the organization’s members. There also were numerous incidents of intimidation and an apparent assasination attempt against CIPO’s leader.

Members of the community who trained through the clinic filed a petition with the commission calling for precautionary measures on the part of the Mexican government to protect individuals associated with CIPO. In response, the commission urged the Mexican government to provide immediate protection for CIPO leaders, staff and members. Following the commission’s decision, however, threats, intimidation and surveillance continued, leading to additional submissions to the commission—including a request for a broad investigation into the Mexican government’s treatment of indigenous peoples in Oaxaca and throughout the country.

During a hearing to consider this request, clinic graduates from CEDHAPI were able to present a case that outlined the overall human rights situation of indigenous people in Oaxaca. Their presentation marked the first time that indigenous organizations from Oaxaca—which has one of the largest concentrations of indigenous people in the Americas—have appeared before the commission.

The hearing resulted in a decision to send a formal mission to the region to investigate human rights violations; stimulated the release of 336 indigenous prisoners, and represents an important step in a complex, ongoing struggle to defend and protect indigenous rights in Mexico—a process IHRLI has supported aggressively.

“This case is especially exciting since it links CIPO, a grassroots community organization that participated in the clinic, with CEDHAPI, a legal advocacy organization whose members have also received training from IHRLI,” said Rothenberg.”

With sustained support from the Jeanne M. and Joseph P. Sullivan Foundation, IHRLI has operated three clinics to train indigenous people throughout Mexico in the past year. In addition, IHRLI has prepared a training manual to assist indigenous rights organizations throughout the Americas in educating their members to submit cases using a similar methodology.