Mexico: The UN, US and the EU Point Out Failure to Respect Human Rights and Recent Serious Violations

In the last few weeks, the Mexican government has received severe questioning at the international level regarding human rights.

On March 8 and 9, the UN Human Rights Committee held a session in New York. Ten years after presenting its last report on the advances made in compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Mexican government—which signed on to the agreement in 1981—presented its fifth periodic report to the UN Human Rights Committee some five years late. The experts that make up the committee questioned the Mexican State on its implementation of the measures laid out by the Covenant including different aspects such as: militarization, military tribunals, arraigo (pre-charge detentions), passed crimes and the disappearance of the Special Prosecutors Office for Passed Social Movements (FEMOSSP, Fiscalía Especial para los Movimientos Sociales del Pasado), torture, prison conditions, international treaty hierarchies, violence against women, a framework regulating abortion, protections for journalists and human rights defenders, rights for gays, lesbians and transgendered people (LGBT), as well as the situation concerning indigenous peoples’ rights and the application of Article 33.

In addition, on March 11, the US State Department published their “2009 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices.” The section on Mexico confirms that, in general, the government has respected human rights, however it also recognizes a deterioration of the human rights situation in the country sighting cases of arbitrary executions, impunity within the penal system, confessions obtained under torture, attacks on journalists, as well as complaints of forced disappearance carried out by the military.

Finally, on the same day, the European Parliament in Strasburg adopted a resolution titled “The Escalation of Violence in Mexico” by a vote 53 in favor, 2 opposed and 3 abstentions. In the resolution the European Parliament expressed its concern for the current level of violence in Mexico, the climate of impunity within the country as well as attacks against human rights defenders, journalists and women. The resolution called for the Mexican government to adopt policies that guarantee freedom of the press, protections for human rights defenders, security for women and put an end to the impunity enjoyed by security forces and abuses of power.

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