Eleven worldwide human rights organizations wrote a letter to the Chamber of Deputies of Mexico dated March 9, 2017 calling on the adoption of the General Law on Torture that complies with international standards.
The World Organization Against Torture, Association for the Prevention of Torture and the Center for Legal and Social Studies are some of the organizations involved.
There is no corporate media coverage on this issue as of March 16, 2017.
United Nations special rapporteur Juan E. Mendez visited Mexico from April 21 to May 2, 2014 to conduct a report on torture and other cruel, inhumane or degrading punishments. He visited prisons, detention centres, a psychiatric hospital, a social assistance centre and a migrant holding centre to assess occurring situations of torture or ill treatment by the state. The rapporteur received many claims of abuse from victims and their families, who said municipal, state and federal police and the armed forces, inflicted the abuse. The claims proved to be credible when the rapporteur found disturbing similarities among each case. During and in the hours following the arrests people claim to have experienced electric shock, asphyxiation with plastic bags, forced nudity, threats, and insults.
UN human rights investigators wrote a letter to the Mexican government on February 25, 2015 stating, “We also express serious concern over allegations that torture – which includes sexual violence and threats of sexual violence against relatives – and other mistreatment were designed to obtain forced and fabricated confessions, and that the use of these methods does not appear to be isolated.” Two years later, human rights advocates are still pushing for change.
Sources:
United Nations Human Rights, “UN torture prevention experts urge Mexico to focus more on the fight against impunity” December 23 2016, http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=21058&LangID=E
United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner, February 25 2015 http://cdn2.uvnimg.com/c3/c5/9f6d44c8473b8583bfdcefa37c13/Documentos%2520Anabel%25201.pdf
Human Rights Watch, “Letter to Special Rapporteurs on Mexico General Law on Torture” August 30 2016, https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/08/30/letter-special-rapporteurs-mexico-general-law-torture
The Yucatan Times, “Mexican federal government in full cooperation with international human rights entities” December 31, 2016, http://www.theyucatantimes.com/2016/12/mexican-federal-government-in-full-cooperation-with-international-human-rights-entities/
Cejil, “Open Letter to the Chamber of Deputies of Mexico” March 9, 2017, https://www.cejil.org/es/carta-abierta-camara-diputados-mexico#
Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, “Call for the immediate adoption of #AntiTortureLaw in Mexico that meets international standards”, March 10 2017, http://rfkhumanrights.org/news/news/call-immediate-adoption-antitorturelaw-mexico-meets-international-standards/
Student researcher: Rebbeca Marroquin, (University of Regina)
Faculty advisor: Patricia Elliott (University of Regina)
