Mexico - Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Treaty

This report addresses Mexico’s obligations under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights with respect to public participation and the effective enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights. Despite recent initiatives and policy reforms, organised crime, widespread informal employment and inequalities within the education system continue to create structural barriers to the enjoyment of Covenant rights and participation in public life.

The report examines key concerns including (1) the growing influence of organised crime within the formal economy, local institutions and trade unions, alongside the effects of extortion and fear on workers, communities and their willingness to engage with public authorities; (2) the exclusion of informal workers from social protection, labour protections and formal mechanisms of representation, despite comprising a majority of Mexico’s labour force; and (3) barriers within the education system, including challenges surrounding civic education, low youth electoral participation and inequalities in access to increasingly digitalised educational resources.

Accordingly, the report recommends that Mexico strengthen institutional responses to cartel infiltration and corruption while building trust and secure channels of communication with victims of extortion; cooperate with trade unions to prevent organised-crime infiltration while preserving their autonomy; develop recognised mechanisms through which informal workers can organise and advocate for their rights; address pedagogical and civic-literacy challenges within the national education system; and ensure that the expansion of digital education does not deepen existing inequalities in access to educational resources.