Emilio Álvarez Icaza Longoria was born on 31^st March 1965 in Mexico City. He studied Sociology at the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences at the Mexican National Autonomous University (Spanish initials – UNAM) and his thesis, which received an honorary mention, was titled The Housing Problem in Mexico – A Perspective Study (Sociological Aspects for its Evolution, 1985-2010).

He completed a Masters in Social Sciences at the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (Spanish initials – FLACSO); the topic he developed in his thesis was Characteristics of the Reproductive Behaviour in Two Tlaxcala Communities – The Couple’s Perspective, which was unanimously passed with the recommendation to be published.

Among his professional activities he has held a number of posts at the National Centre for Social Communication AC (Spanish initials – CENCOS) until becoming its General Director. He has been an academic and researcher at the Ibero American University (Spanish initials – UIA); at the Study Centre for Rural Development (Spanish initials – CESDER) in the northern mountain range of Puebla; at the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences of the UNAM; at the Autonomous University of Tlaxcala and at the Javier Barros Sierra Foundation.

In 1999 the ALDF appointed him Councillor of the Electoral Institute of the Federal District where he was President of the Electoral Training and Civic Education Commission, President of the Provisional Commission to Evaluate Technical Units of Social Communication, Internal Auditor, Co-ordination and Support to Regional Branches and Documentation.

Moreover, he has been a member the Political Associations and Electoral Organisations Permanent Commission.

He has authored a number of works, investigations and conferences. His work has been nationally an internationally recognised.

Since 1 ^st October 2001 he has been the President of the Federal District Commission of Human Rights (Spanish initials – CDHDF).

Professional Activities

Federal District Electoral Institute (Spanish initials – IEDF)

He has been Councilor of the General Board; President of the Electoral Training and Civic Education Commission; President of the Provisional Commission to Evaluate Technical Units of Social Communication, Internal Auditor, Co-ordination and Support to Regional Branches and Documentation; and member of permanent commissions for Political Associations and Electoral Organisations.

(1999-2001). Since 1^st October he has been President of the Federal District Human Rights Commission.

National Center for Social Communication (Spanish initials – CENCOS)

(With Honors) Member of the Board of Directors (1999 to the present); General Director (1994-1999); Projects Coordinator (1993-1994); Communications and Human Rights Area Coordinator (1990-1993); Analyst (1986-1988); Document Specialist (1982-1983).

Civic Alliance

(Ad Honorem) Member of the National Coordination (1996 to the present), National Liaison Coordinator for the Executive Secretary and the Political Rights and Civic Education Project (1994).

Ibero American University (Santa Fe Campus)

“A” Category Subject Professor in the Social and Political Sciences Department (1996-1998).

Study Center for Rural Development (Spanish initials – CESDER), in Zautla, northern mountain range in Puebla, Puebla.

Professor-Adviser (Rural Development Degree, subjects: Human Rights Education; Methodology; Planning; and Fundamental Social Processes).

(1990 to the present). With his program he received the First Mention at the National Prize of Solidarity in 1993 in the Study category.

Adviser for the design of the Training and Specialization Program for the Technical Degree in Rural Development with a specialization in Human Rights (1997-1999).

National Autonomous Mexican University (Spanish initials – UNAM), Faculty of Social and Political Sciences.

Technical Secretary of the General Secretary (1993-1995), Head Professor for the subject of Statistics (1992-1996), Adjoined Professor (1986-1988), Research Assistant (1986).

Autonomous University of Tlaxcala (Spanish initials – UAT), Sociology and Social Work Department.

Teacher-Adviser (1989-1990)

Javier Barros Sierra AC., Prospective Studies Center,

Research Assistant (1986-1988).

Human Rights Activities

Freedoms of Expression, Information and Communication

Systematization of the repression of the Mexican press 1970-1988, Report on The Repression of the Press during the governments of Carlos Salinas de Gortari (1988-1994) and Ernesto Zedillo (1994-2000).

Damage Survey. Nearing Liberty States of Expression and Information in Mexico. 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001 and the 1^st semester of 2001. He collaborated with the Manuel Buendia Foundation, the Mexican Academy of Human Rights and other organizations.

Charter for the Protection of Journalists and Mass Media, 1^st (1997) and 2^nd (2000) editions. At the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights (Spanish initials – IIDH) he was a speaker at the I and II Ibero American Symposium on Media and Democracy, in Antigua, Guatemala, in 1997 and 1999.

In 1999, he was a speaker at the Forum on the State’s Democratic Reform, organized by the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights (Spanish initials – IIDH), the United Nations Development Program (Spanish initials – PNUD) and the Commission for the State Reform of the Dominican Republic Government, in Santo Domingo.

He has presented the topic of Promotion and Constitution of a Mexican network for the protection of Journalists and Mass Media to organizations such as International Free Expression (IFEX) in Canada, Article 19 (England), Reportier sans Frontiers (France) and the Committee to Protect Journalists (USA).

In 1995 he had an audience with the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights to present the Mexican states that safeguard the freedoms of expression and information.

He participated in the National Forum on the Defense of the Liberties of Expression and Popular Information in Acapulco, Guerrero in 1982, as well as the Permanent Forum on Popular Communication, in Zacatecas in 1983.

Political Rights

He worked for the promotion of the building of different city spaces to publicize citizens’ political rights, among which are worth mentioning: Civic Alliance (he is a founding member and part of the National Coordination) and Citizen Democratic Movement.

He took part in the development of the Convergence of Civil Democratic Organizations, on behalf of CENCOS, where 17 electoral observations were organized from 1991 to 1994.

He went in representation of Civic Alliance to a number of forums in the different states of the country; to international events in Canada, Argentina, Dominican Republic, United States, France and Luxembourg; and to working groups of the United Nations Organization.

Militarisation

He has worked on the promotion and building of Space for Reflection and Joint Action:

Militarisation, Repression and Impunity, with the participation of organizations, such as Service, Peace and Justice (Spanish initials – SERPAJ), the Ibero American University’s Human Rights Program, and Global Exchange among others.

He also took part in the design and diffusion of the research Always Near – Always Far, the Strength of the Armed Forces in Mexico, CENCOS, Global Exchange, CIEPAC, Mexico 2000 and the English version was published in San Francisco, USA, 2001.

Notebooks to Reflect and for Non-Violent Action #1, 2, 3 and 4 (1996-2000) of the Space for Reflection and Joint Action: Militarisation, Repression and Impunity.

Diffusion and Promotion

He has carried out a systematic labor of human rights diffusion in Mexico through permanent CENCOS projects. The ones that stand out are the experiences with governmental agencies and the international cooperation from Spain, United States, England, Belgium, Austria, Germany and Costa Rica.

He designed and carried out the project For a Culture that Respects Human Rights.

In 1994 he was a speaker at the regional conference of the Meso-American Sub-region of the WACC with the conference: The CENCOS Experience in the Work to Promote Human Dignity, in San Jose, Costa Rica.

He was a magisterial speaker at the Annual General Meeting of the Catholic Institute for International Relations (CIIR), with the conference What’s Going on in Mexico about Human Rights?, London, England, 1994.

He took part in the Human Rights Forum organized by the Ibero American System (Spanish initials – ITESO). 1^st Human Rights Forum. UIA, Leon Campus, on the panel CENCOS Experience in the Fight for the Defense of Human Rights, Leon, Guananjuato in 1994, and on the 2^nd Human Rights Forum, UIA, Santa Fe Campus, in 1996.

He worked on the constitution of the National Network of Civic Communicators for the promotion, training and education of human rights to 54 indigenous communities around the country in 11 states, which was financed by the Mexican Youth Institute (Spanish initials – IMJ).

Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

His work has centered on the promotion of an integral vision of human rights - promoting and participating in the creation of a number of spaces and initiatives of the civil society such as the Mexican Network of Action facing Free Trade, Fair Trade SC, Mutual Support Forum (Spanish initials – FAM), among others.

Religious Freedom

He developed the creation of spaces for the promotion of tolerance with Churches of different denominations, such as the Mexican Institute for a Christian Social Doctrine (Spanish initials – IMDOSOC), the Baptist Seminar, the Ecumenical Projects Coordinating Center (Spanish initials – CECOPE), among others.

He has helped promote the organization of the Forum on Religious Freedom in Mexico in January 1994 at the UIA, Santa Fe Campus.

Promotion of Women’s Rights, Diversity and Fight against Racism

He has worked with different groups of women in order to promote their rights, and also with specialists on working with domestic staff, health and education.

He has taken part in the training of human rights promoters in the northern mountain range in Puebla, at the Center for Rural Development Studies, as part of the syllabus of the Rural Development Degree.

He has been an adviser for the design of the Training and Specialization Program for the Technical Degree in Rural Development specialized in Human Rights.

He has taught and trained groups of Huastec indigenous people from Hidalgo and, in the Federal District, in the Iztapalapa delegation, on human rights.

He has promoted and supported the indigenous cooperative mixe Tung Mig Tun, during the Mercedes Benz controversy.

He has taken part in conferences at a number of different higher education centers of the country.

Publications

With Holguin Quiñones, Fernando, Information Integration and Processing, PART II – STATISTICS, Education and Development Series, Federal Electoral Institute, Mexico, 1993.

With Holguin Quiñones, Fernando, Opinion Poll of Returning Students of the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences, in: Sociological Record magazine, Sociology Coordination, FCPS-UNAM, No. 8, May-August 1993, p 47-226.

With Holguin Quiñones, Fernando, Opinion Poll of New Students of the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences, in: Sociological Record magazine, Sociology Coordination, FCPS-UNAM, No. 9, September- December 1993. CENCOS Participation in the Federal Election of 1991, in Our Word. The Electoral fraud of 1991 and the civic participation in the fight for democracy, the Convergence of Civic Democratic Organizations, Mexico, 1992.

Social Movements, Communication and Human Dignity, in CENCOS Magazine, October-November 1992, p. 32-34.

Social Movements in Mexico during the Nineties, Latin American and Caribbean Network of Organizations and Ecumenical Centres, Managua, Nicaragua, 1995.

With Pastor Escobar, Raquel, A Supplement for Opportunity or an Opportunity for Supplement? Topodrilo Magazine, UAM-Iztapalapa, September-October 1992, p. 97-99.

Collaborations

Alonso, Antonio, et al. Tendential Scenarios of the Educational Sector. Research report prepared by the National Educational Orientation System, Javier Barros Sierra Foundation, Restricted Report, Mexico 1987.

Holguin Quiñones, Fernando, Opinion Poll of Graduating Students from the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences, in: Mexican Journal of Political and Social Sciences, FCPS-UNAM, No. 153, Year XXXVIII, New Era July- September 1993, p. 137-212.

Research

Fernando Holguin Q. and Emilio Álvarez Icaza L., Análisis of the Opinión Poll of Former Students of the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences, UNAM, March-June 1993.

Emilio Alvarez Icaza L and Fernando Holguin Q. Opinion Poll of Returning Students of the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences, UNAM, May – July 1993.

Acknowledgements and Distinctions

Lorena Alejandra Gallardo Foundation IAP

He received a scholarship to carry out his degree and Masters studies from May 1995 to July 1990.

ASHOKA Foundation

He is a member of the World Network of Social Entrepreneurs of the Ashoka Foundation.

He was a scholarship holder of the same foundation between May 1995 and April 1998.

International Reebook Prize for Human Rights

He was a finalist in the Mexican region for the 1995 edition of the prize.

United States of America Embassy in Mexico

He held a scholarship for the International Visitor Program of the Embassy of the United States in Mexico for the visit of civic and electoral organizations of five cities in the United States (Washington, New York, San Antonio, Denver and Boston), in September 1998.