The president's proposals include abolishing the death penalty

The plan comes after human rights groups criticised Mexico's record.

The changes would allow federal authorities to act more quickly in cases such as the murders of hundreds of women in the city of Ciudad Juarez.

But some Mexican human rights groups have said the proposals do not go far enough and that they were not consulted on the final draft.

The move, which would recognise human rights as "fundamental", was based partly on recommendations by the United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights.

The commissioner's representative in Mexico, Anders Kompass, welcomed it as "a step in the right direction".

The proposal will have to be passed by both houses of Congress and then be approved by two-thirds of the states.

Negligence

Announcing the plan at the presidential residence in Mexico City, Los Pinos, President Fox said Mexico was now "known and recognised as a firm defender of human rights".

However, the Mexican authorities have frequently come under fire from human rights groups, who have raised a number of issues.

These include the use of torture against people in police custody.

But the case seen as the worst example of Mexico's human rights failures is the authorities' response to a series of murders of young women in Ciudad Juarez that stretches back more than 10 years.

Although victims' families complained repeatedly about negligence and ineptitude on the part of local investigators in Chihuahua state, the federal government did not intervene until last year.

Under the new proposal, the federal authorities' jurisdiction in human rights cases would be widened, allowing them to step in earlier.

The reform would also abolish the death penalty, which is only available to military courts and has not been enforced since 1961.

However, correspondents say this would strengthen Mexico's case against the execution of its nationals in the United States.

Last month, the International Court of Justice at The Hague ruled that the US violated the rights of 51 Mexicans on death row in American prisons, because they were not told of their rights to consular assistance.