- The goal is to ensure compliance with the human rights of the right holder and of the IMSS workers themselves through a change in the organizational culture.
- It will have coordination of Attention to Complaints and Special Cases, and the Coordination of Equality, Gender and Inclusion.
- The head of this new area will be Marcela Velázquez Bolio, who has experience in various Autonomous Organizations.
The H. Technical Council of the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) approved the creation of its first Human Rights Unit. Its objective is to contribute to guarantee rights holders and users the effective exercise of their right to health and social security through the design and implementation of an institutional policy, with a focus on the protection and promotion of human rights.
Protect IMSS patients and workers
In an ordinary session, the representatives of the labor, employer and government sectors also unanimously approved the proposal of the general director of the IMSS, Zoé Robledo, to appoint the teacher as head of this Unit. Marcela Velazquez Boliowho served as coordinator of Operations with Civil Society and Autonomous Organizations of the Institute.
Zoé Robledo affirmed that as a social security organization and institution, the IMSS must watch over the human rights of the entitled and of their own workers through a change in the organizational culture.
“That is why it was essential to have a space from which plans, objectives, evaluations and follow-up on these issues are carried out, especially with a preventive and proactive approach.”
The director general stressed that since the beginning of his administration a guarantee institution has been promoted to verify that the medical care complies in terms of quality and acceptable waiting timesas well as effective access to social security and health.
“The creation of the Human Rights Unit is a first step that allows sending a signal, inside and outside, that Social Security validates, observes and attends to the reform of the first Constitutional article. At the same time, it also optimizes resources, efforts and inter-institutional spaces with a structure that does not cost us, as we did with the Transparency and Integrity Unit”.
For his part, the Director of Administration of the IMSS, Borsalino González Andrade, stressed that the project was extensively discussed in meetings with the councilors representing the labor and employer sector, after which it was strengthened thanks to the observations made.
He pointed out that this Unit seeks to take actions with a vision and preventive human rights approach that guarantees the constitutional right to health and social security.
He explained that the unit It will design and implement an institutional policy that optimizes human, financial and technological resources in the consolidation of a preventive human rights culture. It will be attached to the Legal Directorate and will be made up of already existing administrative areas, as well as others from the Directorate of Evaluation and Operation, and Economic and Social Benefits.
The Human Rights Unit will have its coordination for Attention to Complaints and Special Cases, and the Coordination for Equality, Gender and Inclusion. As long as it does not imply an increase in the authorized budget for personal services of the Institute for the present exercise or the subsequent ones.
Counselors from the labor and employer sectors agreed on the importance of strengthening medical and administrative care with a human rights approach and that it has a positive impact on the image of the Institute.
Who is Marcela Velazquez Bolio?
She holds a Master’s degree in Social Policy and Development from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a BA in Political Science from the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico (ITAM).
His professional career has focused on protection of human rights by supporting civil society organizations and international organizations in the design of projects, monitoring and evaluation, mainly on issues of gender, maternal mortality, health, sexual and reproductive rights.
As advisor to the presidency of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN), she coordinated the action protocol for justice providers in cases involving the LGBT community, as well as the labor inclusion program for people with disabilities in the High Court and the inclusion program for children with disabilities at the Child Development Center of the Supreme Court.
She is founder of for usan organization dedicated to the economic empowerment of women and recently served as Coordinator of Operations with Civil Society and Autonomous Organizations of the Institute itself, where it created the model of approach and direct dialogue to strengthen and generate actions that promote and facilitate the processes of linkage, articulation and synergies between the IMSS, organizations of society and autonomous organizations.
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