From 2 to 18 July 2011, a French delegation from Christian Action for the Abolition of torture (ACAT France) visited Mexico with the objective of collecting information to release a diagnostic regarding the practice of torture and other cruel and inhuman punishments in the country.
Its important legal-protection system notwithstanding, Mexico was chosen as one of the five priority-countries contemplated by the “Fortifying the mechanisms of investigation, information, alert, and monitoring of torture and other abusive treatment” project that ACAT is carrying out due to the “systematic persistence of troture, impunity for those responsible, and death-threats directed at victims, relatives, and civil-society representatives who denounce such. This, within a context of increasing violence in the country and the combatting of organized crime, with the participation of the armed forces in the task of public security, competing with civilian forces.”
The delegation visited Mexico City and the states of Oaxaca and Chiapas, although it also met with organizations, relatives, and survivors of torture in Chihuahua, Coahuila, Mexico state, Guerrero, Jalisco, Sinaloa, and Tlaxcala. Furthermore, it held work-meetings with the Minister of Governance, the Federal Attorney General’s Office (PGR), the National Commission on Human Rights (CNDH), the Mexico City Commission on Human Rights (CDHDF), and representatives of the governments of Oaxaca and Chiapas.
In its press-release issued at the end of its visit, ACAT-France speaks of “the utilization of torture and degrading and inhumane treatment as methods of investigation, the persistence of bail, and the lack of investigation and sanction of those responsible for these human-rights violations as well as access to justice and reparation for victims. Also there has been observed how torture is used to repress social movements and inhibit political participation and the defense of human rights, as occurred in the cases of San Salvador Atenco and Oaxaca.”
As a result of this visit, ACAT-France will publish a report that investigates the conclusions of its visit toward the end of visibilizing the situation of torture in Mexico and strengthening national and international resources of pressure for the total eradication of that practice.
For more information (in Spanish):
Concluye visita a México de ACAT Francia “Perdura la tortura en Mexico” (boletín de prensa de la ACAT, 21 July 2011)
Llaman la atención de ONG francesa, recientes y pasadas desapariciones forzada (SIDIDH, Centro Prodh, 21 July 2011)
