A group of well-known Mexicans delivered the Universal Charter of Human Duties and Responsibilities to Foreign Secretary Luis Videgaray today. The charter reaffirms human rights for all people as the most important legal and social victory of our time, while recognizing how important it is for  individuals and other actors to effectively carry out their legal duties and ethical responsibilities as members of society and to achieve the common good.

The meeting was attended by Dr. Enrique Graue, Dr. José Ramón Cossío, Julio Millán and Sealtiel Alatriste on behalf of the Universal Charter's signatories. Foreign Secretary Videgaray was accompanied by the Undersecretary for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights, Ambassador Miguel Ruíz Cabañas.

The signatories said that the spirit behind the citizen initiative—mainly inspired by the thinking of José Saramago, recipient of the 1998 Nobel Prize for Literature—is that for rights to be effective, people must both comply and demand compliance with them.  They also explained their intention to get others to join in the initiative, in Mexico and other countries, and to present it to the United Nations.

Foreign Secretary Videgaray acknowledged the humanist and liberal content of the Universal Charter and mentioned how important democratic values are to our society.  He expressed his support for the initiative and underscored its broad agreement with Mexico's key foreign policy principles, saying Mexico would support the charter and help get it accepted in the multilateral forums.

The Universal Charter was drafted over a period of three years based on discussions in national and international forums. It was signed by Enrique Graue Wichers, Pilar del Río, Julio Millán Bojalil, José Ramón Cossío Díaz, Juliana González Valenzuela, Rolando Cordera Campos, Manuel Peimbert Sierra, Sami Nair, Ángel Gabilondo, Enrique Balp Díaz, Sealtiel Alatriste Lozano, Ruth Rubio Marín, Alberto Vital, Guillermo Estrada and Mariana Mureddu Gilabert.

The charter is available on the Foreign Ministry's website:

https://www.gob.mx/sre/documentos/carta-universal-de-los-deberes-y-obligaciones-de-las-personas?state=published

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