On October 26-27, the Foreign Ministry, the Auschwitz Institute and the White & Case law firm co-organized the annual meeting of the Latin American Network for Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention on its 10th anniversary. Authorities from ten countries participated in the meeting, in addition to regional civil society organizations.
The Latin American Network is an informal forum made up of States from the region, whose purpose is to develop national and regional initiatives focused on the prevention of genocide and mass atrocities.
The event was attended by the Executive Director of the Auschwitz Institute, Tibi Galis, who highlighted the work carried out by the Latin American Network over the last ten years. It has addressed issues such as memory, truth and justice; preventing discrimination; protecting vulnerable groups; and the rights of the LGTBIQ+ community, migrants and refugees.
This year, the meeting focused on human rights and businesses, and the environmental, social and governance criteria of the corporate sector. Mexico explained its efforts to combat the illicit trafficking of arms from the United States. The ready availability of
in the region, due to the lack of due diligence on the part of the gun companies, together with other issues such as hate speech, could be risk factors for the commission of atrocities in Latin America and the Caribbean.
In his remarks, Foreign Ministry Legal Advisor Alejandro Celorio discussed the actions undertaken by the Government of Mexico to raise awareness of the gun companies' responsibility, such as the recent thematic hearing of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights at its 185 period of sessions. He invited the countries and civil society organizations at the meeting, and the Latin American Network itself, to continue analyzing the responsibility of companies with regard to human rights in the region.
