Tucson, Arizona, June 9th, 2025: The International Indian Treaty Council is proud to announce the election on June 2, 2025 of Saul Vicente Vazquez, Indigenous leader from the Zapoteca Nation of Oaxaca, Mexico and a member of IITC’s Board of Directors, as an member of the United Nations Committee on Racial Discrimination (CERD), the Treaty monitoring body for the International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD). Saul was nominated by Mexico and was elected with the support of 129 State parties. He will begin his term on the CERD in 2026.
Saul is only the second Indigenous expert in history to be elected to serve on a UN Treaty Body. The first was Jose Francsico “Pancho” Cali Tzay, Mayan Cakchiquel, who served as a member of the CERD from 2004 – 2020, and as its President from 2014-2016.
Saul has a distinguished record of service in the defense of Indigenous Peoples’ rights and ways of life. He co-founded and continues to participate actively in several grass-roots organizations including the Unidad de la Fuerza Indígena y Campesina (UFIC), Asamblea de los Pueblos Indigenous por la Soberania Alimentaria en Mexico (APISA), and Cooperativa Guenda rudxhiíba guendaró stinu in Juchitán Oaxaca.
On the national level, Saul served as the International Director of the Mexico’s Instituto National de Pueblos Indígenas (INPI) and is an independent expert advisor for the reform of the Mexican Constitution to include the rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Internationally, Saul was a member of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues representing Indigenous Peoples from the Latin America and Caribbean Region from 2011 to 2013. He co-founded the UN Committee on Food Security’s Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples Mechanism and represents Indigenous Peoples on the International Planning Committee for Food Sovereignty Executive Committee. Over the last 3 decades, Saul has been an IITC delegate at United Nations bodies addressing Climate Change, Biological Diversity, Food Sovereignty, Sustainable Development, Racial Discrimination and Human Rights, including in the decades-long process of negotiating the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
IITC is confident that as a member of CERD Saul will continue to be a tireless advocate for the rights of Indigenous Peoples and will work diligently to hold state parties accountable for implementing their international human rights obligations under the ICERD.
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SAUL VICENTE VAZQUEZ ELECTED AS A MEMBER OF THE UN CERD
Tucson, Arizona, June 9th, 2025: The International Indian Treaty Council is proud to announce the election on June 2, 2025 of Saul Vicente Vazquez, Indigenous leader from the Zapoteca Nation of Oaxaca, Mexico and a member of IITC’s Board of Directors, as an member of the United Nations Committee on Racial Discrimination (CERD), the Treaty monitoring body for the International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD). Saul was nominated by Mexico and was elected with the support of 129 State parties. He will begin his term on the CERD in 2026.
Saul is only the second Indigenous expert in history to be elected to serve on a UN Treaty Body. The first was Jose Francsico “Pancho” Cali Tzay, Mayan Cakchiquel, who served as a member of the CERD from 2004 – 2020, and as its President from 2014-2016.
Saul has a distinguished record of service in the defense of Indigenous Peoples’ rights and ways of life. He co-founded and continues to participate actively in several grass-roots organizations including the Unidad de la Fuerza Indígena y Campesina (UFIC), Asamblea de los Pueblos Indigenous por la Soberania Alimentaria en Mexico (APISA), and Cooperativa Guenda rudxhiíba guendaró stinu in Juchitán Oaxaca.
On the national level, Saul served as the International Director of the Mexico’s Instituto National de Pueblos Indígenas (INPI) and is an independent expert advisor for the reform of the Mexican Constitution to include the rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Internationally, Saul was a member of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues representing Indigenous Peoples from the Latin America and Caribbean Region from 2011 to 2013. He co-founded the UN Committee on Food Security’s Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples Mechanism and represents Indigenous Peoples on the International Planning Committee for Food Sovereignty Executive Committee. Over the last 3 decades, Saul has been an IITC delegate at United Nations bodies addressing Climate Change, Biological Diversity, Food Sovereignty, Sustainable Development, Racial Discrimination and Human Rights, including in the decades-long process of negotiating the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
IITC is confident that as a member of CERD Saul will continue to be a tireless advocate for the rights of Indigenous Peoples and will work diligently to hold state parties accountable for implementing their international human rights obligations under the ICERD.