E/C.12/MEX/CO/4 page 2 B. Positive aspects 4. The Committee appreciates the State party’s support for the elaboration of an Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. 5. The Committee notes with appreciation the State party’s cooperation with the country office of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, which was established in 2002 in the State party and has elaborated a “Diagnosis on the human rights situation in Mexico” covering also economic, social and cultural rights. 6. The Committee welcomes the establishment in 2001 of the National Institute for Women (Inmujeres) mandated to create a culture free from violence and discrimination against women and to promote the equal enjoyment of all rights by men and women. 7. The Committee welcomes the establishment in 2001 of a Technical Committee for the Measurement of Poverty in Mexico, which has defined thresholds for measuring trends in the proportion of the population below certain poverty levels, i.e. the “nutritional poverty threshold”, the “capacities development threshold” and the “patrimony development threshold”. 8. The Committee notes with appreciation that since 2003, antiretroviral medicines are accessible free of charge for all HIV/AIDS patients in the State party. C. Factors and difficulties impeding the implementation of the Covenant 9. The Committee notes the absence of any major factors or difficulties impeding the effective implementation of the Covenant in the State party. D. Principal subjects of concern 10. The Committee is concerned about reports that members of indigenous and local communities opposing the construction of the La Parota hydroelectric dam or other projects under the Plan Puebla-Panama are not properly consulted and are sometimes forcefully prevented from participating in local assemblies concerning the implementation of these projects. It is also concerned that the construction of the La Parota dam would cause the flooding of 17,000 hectares of land inhabited or cultivated by indigenous and local farming communities, that it would lead to environmental depletion and reportedly displace 25,000 people. It would also, according to the Latin American Water Tribunal, violate the communal land rights of the affected communities, as well as their economic, social and cultural rights. 11. The Committee regrets the absence of a federal gender equality act and of laws on sexual harassment in 14 of the 32 federated states of the State party. The Committee expresses its concern about discriminatory provisions in the civil codes of a number of states, such as provisions requiring the consent of the husband for a woman to work or authorizing the husband to decide about his wife’s abode. 12. The Committee notes with concern that approximately 40 per cent of the active working population are reportedly employed in the informal sector.