Oficina de Defensoria de los Derechos de la Infancia A.C.

Oficina de Defensoría de Derechos de la Infancia promotes an effective justice system for the defense of human rights, with a focus on the rights of children and youth. The award helps to raise the standards of criminal investigations conducted by Mexico’s National Prosecutor’s Office through support of litigation and victim representation in the justice system. It also supports development and dissemination of materials and resources aimed at personnel of prosecutor’s offices, lawyers, and judges to improve their knowledge of technical standards.

Oficina de Defensoría de Derechos de la Infancia promotes an effective justice system for the defense of human rights, with a focus on the rights of children and youth. The award serves two purposes. First, it supports litigation and dissemination of legal resources among public servants and civil society actors to raise the standards of criminal investigations. Second, it strengthens civil society’s work promoting improved investigative procedures by the National Prosecutor’s Office to be created in the coming year.

Oficina de Defensoria de los Derechos de la Infancia (ODI) specializes in strategic litigation, has expertise in legal representation of minors, and works closely with government and academic institutions to improve the quality of justice in Mexico. The award supports efforts to promote higher investigative standards through litigation and documentation of practices that hinder due process and obstruct justice. The documentation effort aims to raise awareness among the general public, opinion leaders and justice practitioners in order to contribute to improving investigative practices.

Oficina de Defensoria de los Derechos de la Infancia (ODI) specializes in strategic litigation, has expertise in legal representation of minors, and works closely with government and academic institutions to improve the quality of justice in Mexico. The award supports the creation and operation of an online platform for effective strategic litigation. With Mexico’s transition to a new justice system, there is need for lawyers with litigation skills to successfully challenge poor police investigation. The web platform will increase the technical resources available to litigating lawyers and justice operators by pulling together databases on human rights-based legal arguments, ruling records of presiding judges, guidance in forensic fields and accepted standards for validating or challenging evidence.

The Oficina de Defensoria de los Derechos de la Infancia (ODI) proposes a series of activities to advance institutional change in Mexico’s justice system in four key areas (police investigations, prosecutions, forensic opinions, and judicial obligations) by incorporating the generation and dissemination of standards and procedures using broad strategic litigation of children’s rights.