Mexico threatens to take Prop. 200 to rights tribunal Chris Hawley
Republic Mexico City Bureau
Jan. 28, 2005 12:00 AM
MEXICO CITY - Mexican officials said Thursday they may complain to an international human rights tribunal if U.S. courts fail to overturn Arizona's Proposition 200.
Human rights experts said such a complaint likely would have little legal impact, since courts have limited power over the United States, but that it could be a diplomatic embarrassment for the United States.
A foreign ministry spokesman on Thursday confirmed comments about the case made by Luis Ernesto Derbez, Mexico's top diplomat, during a radio show earlier this week. advertisement
"We are looking at all legal means in the United States, and if that fails, we could look to an international body - that was the context," said spokesman Edgar Trujillo.
The comments came as activists in Arizona challenge Proposition 200 in court, and as opposition politicians accuse Mexican President Vicente Fox's government of doing too little to stop the law.
The Mexican government has provided "moral support" but not money for the legal challenge filed by the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund, said Danny Ortega, a Phoenix attorney helping the group.
Proposition 200 requires Arizonans to prove their U.S. citizenship when registering to vote, and to provide proof they are legal residents when applying for certain state benefits. State employees who fail to report undocumented immigrants face a possible $750 fine and four months in jail.
Derbez says the law could encourage racial discrimination. He has said that the Mexico is helping activists.
"We are . . . first using the legal capacities of the United States itself and . . . if that does not work, bringing it to international tribunals," the Associated Press quoted Derbez as saying in the radio interview.
It is unclear whether a ruling by an international tribunal would have any impact.
There are only a few international courts, and their jurisdiction and power over countries is limited, said James Ross, senior legal adviser for New York-based Human Rights Watch.
But Mexico could bring the issue to the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, a group of countries that condemns human rights violations, said James Anaya, a professor of human rights law at the University of Arizona.