Quintana Roo Governor Urges Youth to Help Draft New Rights Law

Cancún, Quintana Roo — Governor Mara Lezama Espinosa called on young people across Quintana Roo to take part in drafting the state’s Law on the Rights of Young People, urging them to ensure their experiences and ideas shape both the legal framework and public policy.

Speaking at a state forum held at the Universidad Tecnológica de Cancún, Lezama recalled that on the same date in 1968, students took to the streets to demand political freedom, democracy and justice, and were repressed. That generation, she said, raised its voice at a time of deep restrictions on organizing and political participation.

“Today we come here to tell you: please, participate,” the governor said, stressing that young people now have institutional channels and spaces for dialogue to put their proposals forward.

Residents between the ages of 12 and 29 can submit proposals through the microsite of the Legal Counsel’s Office of the Executive Branch until October 16.

Addressing students from UT Cancún and the CECyTE system, along with representatives of other schools, Lezama encouraged them to read the draft, discuss it and send in their input. She argued that participation by younger generations can help build solutions for their communities and leave a legacy for those who come after.

New Legal Framework

Alma Alvarado Moo, director of the Quintana Roo Youth Institute, said the initiative aims to establish a new legal framework that recognizes young people as full holders of rights.

Among the issues the law would cover are:

• Education and training
• Dignified work, first jobs and entrepreneurship
• A life free of violence
• Sexual and reproductive health
• Identity and disability

The forum is part of a consultation process developed jointly by the Legal Counsel’s Office, the State Government Department and the State Youth Council, with the aim of gathering input from young people in different regions and circumstances across Quintana Roo.

Also present at the event were Verónica Lezama Espinosa, honorary president of the DIF Quintana Roo family services agency; state lawmaker Jorge Sanén Cervantes, president of the Congress’s Board of Government and Political Coordination; and Paola Hernández Ortiz, deputy counselor for legislation and regulatory studies at the Legal Counsel’s Office. Jazmín Pech Monge, president of the State Youth Council, and Enrique Arturo Baños Abedun de Lima, rector of the Universidad Tecnológica de Cancún, also took part.