With a historic constitutional reform, **Mexico** recognizes indigenous rights. The president **[Claudia Sheinbaum](https://noticiasambientales.com/medio-ambiente/mexico-se-comprometio-con-las-cero-emisiones-e-invita-a-otros-paises/)** signed the decree this week that publishes this normative change.
Additionally, it guarantees the creation of a **[Presidential Commission for the Plans of Justice for Indigenous Peoples and Afro-Mexicans](#)**.
“Today we are going to publish the reform to Article 2 of the Constitution in several languages, celebrating this **International Human Rights Day**,” declared the president.
## Mexico recognizes indigenous rights: the historic reform
The modification of the Constitution, approved in September during the presidency of **Andrés Manuel López Obrador** (2018-2024), recognizes for the first time the **[68 indigenous peoples](https://noticiasambientales.com/medio-ambiente/los-pueblos-indigenas-son-fundamentales-para-cuidar-la-biodiversidad-del-planeta/)** of Mexico as subjects of public law, with legal personality and their own heritage.
On the other hand, **Sheinbaum created a Presidential Commission** to follow up on the plans for **[justice for indigenous peoples](https://noticiasambientales.com/medio-ambiente/derechos-de-pueblos-indigenas-argentina-fue-el-unico-pais-de-la-onu-en-votar-en-contra-de-una-resolucion/)**.
This initiative started in López Obrador’s government to compensate the **native communities for the damages** caused by extractive projects and the abandonment by the authorities.
It also requires consultations on projects affecting their communities and **declares Mexico as a “multiethnic nation”**. In the country, **23 million people are indigenous** and nearly **7.4 million speak a native language**, among which Nahuatl, Maya, Tzetzal, and Zapotec predominate.
## The main changes on the subject
1. **Express recognition of indigenous rights**: this includes the protection of their autonomy, **their lands and natural resources**, as well as the possibility of accessing justice on equal terms.
2. **Prior consultation for infrastructure projects**: the obligation to carry out prior, free, and informed consultations with indigenous communities before implementing **infrastructure projects in their territories**.
3. **Strengthening of indigenous culture and languages**: emphasizes the importance of preserving and promoting languages, as well as ancestral culture and traditions.
4. **Access to justice**: measures for indigenous communities to have better access to justice, with courts that can address in a **specific and adequate** manner cases involving indigenous rights, respecting their customs and **conflict resolution methods**.
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