Human Rights Violations. 1. A Truth and Reconciliation Commission shall be established to address impunity, break the cycle of violence, provide a forum for both the victims and perpetrators of human rights violations to tell their story, get a clear picture of the past in order to facilitate genuine healing and reconciliation.
Human Rights Violations. Foreign investments on agriculture and extractive industries often encroach on the ancestral lands and territories of indigenous peoples. The TPPA can worsen these attacks of corporations on the communities of indigenous peoples. In Mexico, part of the constitutional changes that the Mexican government made in 1993 to accommodate the NAFTA was the removal of the Article 27 which protects Indian territories from sale or privatization. As a result, the indigenous population in Mexico is left unprotected from the loss of their remaining lands. Because of this, the Zapatistas called NAFTA “a death certificate for the Indian Peoples of Mexico.” On January 1, 1994, the day that NAFTA came into force, the Zapatista National Liberation Army declared war on the Mexican government. They stormed and occupied four county seats in the southern part of Mexico, Chiapas. However, their rebellion lasted only 12 days as the ill-equipped peasants were no match for the firepower of the Mexican army supported by the United States. Amnesty International recorded gross violations of human rights during the 12-day war and years after. Arbitrary arrests, summary executions, torture, and house-to-house raids were allowed by the Mexican government to subdue any rebellion in Chiapas.16
