MORENA deputy proposes translation of legal ordinances into indigenous languages

The deputy Norma Xóchitl Hernández Colín, from the National Regeneration Movement (MORENA) political party, proposed the National Indigenous Languages Institute (INALI) to translate legal ordinances of the federal sphere into the most important indigenous languages of the country and the National Commission for the Development of Indigenous Peoples (CDI) to support outreach campaigns for the translated documents.

The proposal seeks to address the needs of indigenous people to know their rights and obligations in the federal sphere.

The proposal states that, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) , 6.6% of the population above the age of three spoke at least one indigenous language in 2015 , meaning that 7 out of every 100 people in Mexico speak one of all 72 indigenous languages present in the national territory ; a total of 7,382,785 people .

Of this number, 13% of people can only express themselves through their native language ; mostly indigenous people that are completely attached to their people’s cosmovision and traditional culture. However, this segment is also the most vulnerable, given its marginalization in terms of access to natural resources, as well as education, health, and justice services.

43.2%

of these non-Spanish speakers have little or no education while there are 5.3 million indigenous people over the age of 15, 27% of which are illiterate .

The document explained that, according to Mexico’s National Commission of Human Rights (CNDH), until November 2015 , the indigenous population that was locked away at penitentiary centers throughout the country rose to 8,412 people , 7,728 of which were trialed through ordinary courts and 684 through federal courts . 286 of them are women and 8,126 are men.

“The new Criminal Justice System will seek to guarantee due process through some of its core features, including oral and public trials which ensure the right to equality,” the document reads.

It added, however, that one of the major problems related to secluded indigenous people, regardless of their legal situation, was a general lack of information regarding human rights.

Over 70% of indigenous people in Mexico live in poverty

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