Towards the modernisation of the European Union-Mexico Global Agreement: Ensuring a central place for Human Rights

The systematic inclusion of human rights clauses, consisting of an ‘essential elements’ clause and a ‘non-execution’ clause, in international agreements involving the European Union (EU) aims to foster positive and constructive collaboration on human rights with third countries, according to EU policy. As a last resort, these clauses also enable the parties to the agreement to take ‘appropriate measures’ in case of serious breaches of human rights obligations by the other party. In the context of the EU's relations with Mexico, the human rights clause is divided into Article 1 (‘essential elements’ clause) and Article 58 (‘non-execution’ clause) of the 2000 Global Agreement between the EU, its Member States and Mexico, which is currently being updated. This policy paper aims to contribute to the modernization process of the Global Agreement by providing recommendations to decision-makers on the future content and implementation of cooperation and political dialogue on human rights issues between the parties. It is divided into four sections. The first section briefly introduces the situation of human rights in Mexico and the EU. The second section presents the official perspectives for updating the human rights clause in the Global Agreement. The third section addresses the main existing concerns regarding the wording and implementation of the human rights clause, as well as EU-Mexico cooperation and political dialogue on human rights. The fourth section contains specific policy recommendations to the EU and Mexico.