Gypsy Jan - 4-1-2013 at 11:17 AM
From San Diego Red
"In Mexico The National Human Rights Commission is in charge of enforcing the rights of its citizens, in which the protection and defense of human
rights was elevated to constitutional level in 1992, with the publication of a decree to section B of Article 102 in the Mexican Constitution. Thanks
to this it empowered Congress and state legislatures to contemplate and establish specialized agencies to handle complaints against acts that violate
human rights by any authority or government official.
In the Constitution of Baja California, Article 7, it states:
"In the state of Baja California the individual, social and any other rights of all of its inhabitants will be obeyed and assured of as established in
the Mexican Constitution."
This is what gave birth to the Human Rights and Citizen Protection Departments of Baja California, who are an independent organization whose mission
is to monitor and require public servants to adhere to legality of law.
In most advanced democracies, aside from having its citizens trust its government, there isn't the need in their justice system for an institution who
dedicates 100% of their time to defend its citizens from the abuse by the authorities. However, in Latin America because of its history of
totalitarian governments, having human rights integrated in their constitution has been seen as a great achievement, but there are still countries
that do not have this type legislation regarding this matter.
In Baja California the ombudsman is elected by politicians from the congress of the state, who decides on the person who has the best profile to
defend the human rights of the people of Baja California. As of June 1, 2012, Attorney Arnulfo De Leon Lavenant, has served as human rights ombudsman
for this state. During the administration of the Mayor Jorge Hank Rhon, Lavenant served as councilman for El Florido and then for the delegation of
Sanchez Taboada in Tijuana.
Attorney Arnulfo De Leon Lavenant agreed to talk to SanDiegoRed.com, about the efforts in the defense of human rights of the people from Baja
California. He said that the once dark office of this institution has now modernized and is closer to the citizens, neighborhoods, police, clinics and
social security offices in the city.
The idea of building a democratic society by the enforcement of human rights "is a huge problem in Baja California. We have to serve all residents and
visitors, everyone in general," said the attorney.
"The type of environment that is being lived in Baja California is what has empowered us to act the way we are: monitoring military checkpoints,
monitoring the federal police and training the police." Lavenant also added that "not only are we training authorities, but also telling them that I'm
teaching you on how to treat citizens, and if you forget, I'm only one block away from you so that at any given moment, I can make a recommendation to
your boss."
Before leaving the ombudsman said: "We have a team of 92 people who are very active, very prepared, and who love this job. I have over forty lawyers
and eight offices and created two more in San Quintin and San Felipe."
On the Human Rights and Citizen Protection Office of Baja California website, there you will be able to find the information on how to submit your
complaint. So for any abuse by authorities, do not hesitate on contacting them.
Eduardo.Flores@sandiegored.com
Omar.Martinez@sandiegored.com