The Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez Human Rights Center A.C. (Center Prodh) is a non-profit civil association, founded in 1988 by the Society of Jesus, which seeks to promote structural changes so that society has the conditions to enjoy and exercise the totality of their human rights in an equitable manner.

Our mission is to promote and defend the human rights of people and excluded groups, in situations of vulnerability or poverty, to contribute to the construction of a more just, equitable and democratic society, in which human dignity is fully respected.

The people and groups we accompany mainly in our work are indigenous people, women, migrants and victims of social repression.

Since 2001, we have a Consultative Status to the United Nations Economic and Social Council. Since 2004 we are an Accredited Organization before the Organization of American States.

What do we want to achieve?

  • The Center Prodh‘s work is based on the analysis of the reality of Mexico, and focuses on two thematic programs:
    • Democratic justice: Through this program we seek to contribute to the consolidation of a democratic State of law and to the fight against impunity through the incorporation of international standards in public policies, mechanisms and practices related to the judicial system and citizen security to promote the equitable access to justice.
    • Territorial justice: Through this program we defend and promote respect for the collective rights of indigenous and peasant peoples, encouraging to be guaranteed and exercised in accordance with international standards, and that these be incorporated into public policies, mechanisms and practices.

With what strategies do we work?

At Center Prodh we work with a multidisciplinary approach called Integral Defense Methodology. This is our own method built up over our 30-year experience in which all areas collaborate to build strategies to defend emblematic cases, offering an interdisciplinary accompaniment to individual and collective victims of human rights violations.

We are currently a team of 30 people conformed by lawyers, psychologists, pedagogues, anthropologists, internationalists, communications mayors and designers.

Our 4 operational areas carry out the following actions:

Defense

From legal elements, we take the defense, accompany and give timely follow-up to cases of human rights violations, through the preparation of technical inputs in litigation, which contribute from the perspective of international human rights standards to build and promote successful and replicable legal strategies.

Education

Under a participatory approach of popular education and joint construction of knowledge, we undertake educational processes aimed at strengthening the tools and technical capacities of defenders, organizations, communities, groups and networks who work in favor of human rights.

International

We litigate cases of human rights violations accompanied by the Center Prodh and actively participate through international advocacy in the Inter-American and Universal Human Rights System.
We work with various international actors and disseminate information in English and Spanish about the cases and issues that accompany the Center Prodh.

Communication and Analysis

We promote human rights in the public agenda based on strategies with national and international media, social networks, electronic bulletins, periodical publications, special reports and new electronic communication tools.

What have we achieved?

The Center Prodh has promoted advances in the enforcement of human rights in Mexico. Some relevant achievements are:

  • The successful defense of people in conditions of vulnerability. Access to justice for the victims has been obtained, for example, by obtaining their freedom and repairing the damage.
  • Through work with other organizations we have maintained international attention on the human rights situation in Mexico.
  • From our cases and reports, committees and organs of the UN and the inter-American system have sent recommendations to the Mexican State to comply with the highest standards of human rights.
  • The defense of our cases has also promoted positive changes in the lives of other people when the criteria with which they are resolved, adhering to international standards, are retaken in the defense of other cases.
  • The legal criteria promoted have generated jurisprudence and focused on the promotion of public policies linked to human rights on issues such as constitutional reforms, due process criteria, indigenous prisoners, torture and compensation for harm sustained. This has enabled structural changes.
  • Thanks to the educational processes, many communities and regions of the country have human rights defense and promotion committees. We have trained more than 7 thousand defenders.
  • Through national events we have opened spaces to articulate and strengthen strategies of organizations from different regions of the country.
  • We have held forums to inform and generate proposals on various human rights issues, thus strengthening the debate and public opinion.
  • Thanks to the dissemination of information on human rights in the media, social networks and thematic publications, we strengthen access to information for Mexican society and with it the processes of democratization and justice.

Our donors

Throughout its history, the Center Prodh has been able to carry out its mission thanks to the support of international cooperation. We do not receive public financing, because we consider that it is an indispensable guideline to maintain our autonomy and independence in the work we perform.

We thank those who have made possible our work of defense and promotion of human rights in Mexico throughout the 30 years of the Center Prodh through financial cooperation to our institutional projects. Among them are: Catholic Relief Services, CAFOD, Caritas Switzerland, Caritas Sweden, CIVICUS, Italian Episcopal Conference, Democracy Coalition Project, Derechos y Democracia, British Embassy, ​​Embassy of Canada, Embassy of Switzerland, Entreculturas, Angelica Foundation, Danielle Mitterrand Foundation, Ford Foundation, Heinrich Böll Foundation, John Merck Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, Global Human Rights Defenders Fund, International Center for Not-for-Profit Law, Manos Unidas, Missionszentrale der Franziskaner, Misereor, Brot für die Welt, German Jesuit Procurement, Open Society Institute, Secours Catholique, The Fund for Global Human Rights and the European Union.

We also thank those who made our work possible in 2016: Embassy of Australia, Canada Fund, Angelica Foundation, Heinrich Böll Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, Sertull Foundation, GIZ, Misereor, Missionszentrale der Franziskaner, Brot für die Welt, Procura German Jesuit, Open Society Institute, The Fund for Global Human Rights and the European Union.

As a legally registered organization and as an authorized grantee, the Center Prodh complies with the fiscal and accounting accountability exercises in accordance with the Mexican legal framework. In the same way, our projects are audited periodically in an accountability exercise before our donors.