Human Rights Legal Assistance

Asistencia Legal por los Derechos Humanos (Asilegal) is dedicated to improving access to justice for vulnerable populations and it is one of the leading organizations litigating in Mexico’s accusatory system. The project aims to help improve the quality of evidentiary standards and compliance with due process through litigation and training justice system operators. The training component focuses on Chiapas and Oaxaca, where operators have received initial training from Asilegal.

The Observatorio Ciudadano del Sistema de Justicia (the Citizens' Observatory of the Justice System) is a watchdog body dedicated to monitoring Mexico's justice reform to ensure that human rights and due process guarantees are incorporated into the operation of the new criminal justice system. It combines data analysis, in-court monitoring, communications, and engagement with government authorities to promote these objectives throughout justice reform implementation, with a particular emphasis on investigation protocols and evidentiary standards. The three Foundation grantees that constitute the Observatory are: Asistencia Legal por los Derechos Humanos, Comision Mexicana para la Defensa y Promoci6n de los Derechos Humanos, and Instituto de Justicia Procesal Penal.

Asistencia Legal por los Derechos Humanos (Asilegal) was established in 2006 to promote the human rights of all people, with an emphasis on marginalized groups in Mexico. It conducts advocacy, litigation, and training to promote the incorporation of international human rights standards into government policies, and combines research with legal strategies to improve justice for individuals whose rights have been violated within the justice system. This MACEI award will help Asilegal purchase a building for its offices, which will, in turn, free up resources for staff and programs and ensure that it remains in a stable and well-located home.

Asistencia Legal por los Derechos Humanos (Asilegal) was established in 2006 to promote the human rights of all people, with an emphasis on marginalized groups in Mexico. It conducts advocacy, litigation, and training to promote the incorporation of international human rights standards into government policies, and combines research with legal strategies to improve justice for individuals whose rights have been violated within the justice system. This grant will help Asilegal purchase a building for its offices, which will, in turn, free up resources for staff and programs and ensure that it remains in a stable and well-located home.

Asistencia Legal por los Derechos Humanos will promote changes to Mexico’s justice system through the legal representation of vulnerable populations, such as indigenous persons and women; strategic litigation focusing on violations of due process and exacerbated use of pre-trial detention; and trainings on the new oral trial system for system operators in the Mexican states of Chiapas, Guerrero, and Oaxaca.