Mexico’s Supreme Court has issued another blow to government transparency when it comes to human rights.  The latest ruling comes less than one week after the high court limited the legal scope of the country’s publicly-funded human rights commissions.

In a 7 to 4 vote, the Supreme Court upheld a recently reformed internal policy of the Attorney General’s office that limits the National Human Rights Commission’s access to case files. The wording of the new policy allows the Mexican equivalent of the Justice Department to deny human rights investigators access to information that could “put ongoing investigations or the security of persons at risk”. The Attorney General’s Office itself will determine which case files meet the criteria for denial.

The National Human Rights Commission argued the policy restricting their oversight of the federal law enforcement agency was unconstitutional.  The Commission published a report earlier this month in which the Attorney General’s Office ranked second only to the Armed Forces in citizen complaints of human rights abuses.

Tuesday’s Supreme Court ruling is the second in as many weeks to restrict the scope of the federally-funded human rights ombudsman’s office. Last week, the high court ruled that the National Human Rights Commission can only cite the Constitution – and not international law – in legal challenges.

(From the March 10, 2010 broadcast of Free Speech Radio News)