Reforma Constitucional en Materia de Derechos Humanos, Junio 2011, IIJ-UNAM — Transcript

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1. 0:20The constitutional reform on human
2. 0:22rights from June 2011 represents a
3. 0:24significant advancement in the
4. 0:25protection of rights in this country.
5. 0:30The reform, among other features,
6. 0:32contemplated a conceptual shift, moving
7. 0:35from the 1917 Constitution's original
8. 0:38concept of "individual guarantees" to
9. 0:41that of "human rights." This radical
10. 0:47and substantial change may not seem
11. 0:50entirely visible, but it is, in fact,
12. 0:53most important; since the Constitution
13. 0:56now incorporates the human rights
14. 0:59concept, which refers to international
15. 1:02treaties, thereby integrating these
16. 1:05treaties and international criteria
17. 1:08into the constitutional level. The
18. 1:13Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation
19. 1:16had the opportunity to examine and
20. 1:18explore the advantages and scope of the
21. 1:21June 2011 constitutional reform on
22. 1:24human rights almost immediately after
23. 1:26it was enacted. This occurred through
24. 1:29the*Varios*file 912/2010. This matter
25. 1:34heard by the Supreme Court concerned
26. 1:35compliance with the Inter-American
27. 1:37Court of Human Rights 'ruling in the
28. 1:39Rosendo Radilla case. The Rosendo
29. 1:43Radilla case, it should be recalled,
30. 1:45involved the forced disappearance of a
31. 1:47person that occurred during the
32. 1:49historical episode known as the Dirty
33. 1:52War. In this*Varios*file, where the
34. 1:56Court analyzed how it and the Mexican
35. 1:59State could comply with the
36. 2:01Inter-American Court's rulings, this
37. 2:04new rights regime was a highly relevant
38. 2:08topic. At that time, the Supreme Court
39. 2:12concluded that there should be a
40. 2:15control of conventionality applied by
41. 2:18all judges at every level, and that
42. 2:21within this control, the interpretation
43. 2:25of the American Convention on Human
44. 2:28Rights by the Inter-American Court
45. 2:31would hold special status. Now, these
46. 2:36initial ideas, sketched out in*Varios*
47. 2:38file 912, raised a series of questions,
48. 2:44and even conflicts, regarding how our
49. 2:46entire legal system would change from
50. 2:49one moment to the next. And this is a
51. 2:53question that has not yet been fully
52. 2:55resolved. An important step toward
53. 2:58resolving these disputes and questions
54. 3:00was the contradiction of thesis 293. Of
55. 3:042011. In this contradiction of thesis,
56. 3:08two main issues were explored. First,
57. 3:13the Supreme Court concluded that a
58. 3:16block of constitutional regularity
59. 3:19should exist, where rights and their
60. 3:22interpretations from both the
61. 3:24Constitution and international treaties
62. 3:28could be joined, interpreted, and
63. 3:31interact. To this criterion, a sector
64. 3:34of the court sought to add that, within
65. 3:37this block and parameter of
66. 3:39constitutional regularity, restrictions
67. 3:42in the Constitution could not be
68. 3:44touched or undermined. Another
69. 3:47characteristic, or another important
70. 3:50aspect decided by the contradiction 393
71. 3:52, was the fact of finally determining
72. 3:55that the jurisprudence of the
73. 3:57Inter-American Court of Human Rights,
74. 3:59even when dealing with cases that are
75. 4:02not, uh, precisely from Mexico, has
76. 4:04constitutional value, has binding value
77. 4:07for authorities, and authorities must
78. 4:10be in charge of applying them in the
79. 4:12specific context. The discussion
80. 4:16surrounding the constitutional reform,
81. 4:19the model of conventionality control,
82. 4:21and all its implications for rights, is
83. 4:23not a finished discussion; it is a
84. 4:25discussion that sometimes has brilliant
85. 4:28moments, moments of, uh, great openness
86. 4:30and great progress, and other less
87. 4:32intense or less brilliant moments. The
88. 4:38fact is that in the future, without a
89. 4:40doubt, the application of and
90. 4:42reflection on what the constitutional
91. 4:44reform on human rights is, which dates
92. 4:47back to June 2011—that is, almost 8
93. 4:49years ago now—will be one of the most
94. 4:52important topics of our
95. 4:54constitutionalism. And why is it an
96. 4:57important topic? Because this topic can
97. 5:01radically change all the basic notions
98. 5:04of our constitutional law.