MEXICO TO MAKE A PROGRESS REPORT TO THE UN ON ITS PROGRESS IN COMBATING TORTURE

In compliance with its international obligations, Mexico will explain its 5th and 6th consolidated report on implementation of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhumane or Degrading Treatment (CAT) on October 31 and November 1 in Geneva, Switzerland.

Mexican officials from the executive and judicial branches of government, as well as from Baja California, Campeche, Chihuahua, Mexico City, Mexico state, Oaxaca and Puebla will give the UN Committee against Torture extensive information on the steps Mexico has taken in recent years to enforce the convention.

The Mexican delegation, headed by the Deputy Attorney General for Human Rights, Crime Prevention and Community Services, Dr. Ruth Villanueva Castilleja, and the Foreign Ministry’s Director General of Human Rights and Democracy, Ambassador Alejandro Negrin, will explain the legislative and institutional progress and new public policies for preventing and punishing torture in Mexico.

Regarding legislation, emphasis will be given to the impact that recent constitutional reforms in human rights and the writ of amparo have had on the fight against torture. The committee will also hear about how the constitution addresses the issue and about proposed amendments to the Federal Law to Prevent and Punish Torture. Several states have also passed laws to address the issue, including Campeche, Chihuahua, Mexico City, the state of Mexico and Nayarit. The committee will also hear about agreements to harmonize the criminal classification of torture at the national level that were reached during the 12th National Meeting of Supreme Court Chief Justices and Attorneys General.

The committee will also hear how the judiciary, through decisions and sentences, including those of the Supreme Court, has protected the guarantees of due process, particularly by discrediting confessions obtained under torture. The delegation will also explain how the judiciary has made extensive efforts to implement the constitutional reform on human rights and recent changes to military jurisdiction, noting that the Supreme Court has issued important rulings to ensure that human rights violations committed by military personnel are tried in civilian courts. In many cases, military courts have deferred to civil courts in investigating crimes associated with human rights violations.

Regarding improvement of the institutional rules, the delegation will highlight the protocols for the use of force, the preservation of evidence and the availability of incarcerated individuals to the competent authorities, which took effect on April 24, 2012 as part of the agreement signed by the Ministries of Interior, Defense, Public Safety and the Navy, as well as the Attorney General's Office. The afore-mentioned agencies and the Supreme Court will explain in detail the public policies put in place to prevent torture.

Regarding training for public officials, the significant increase in programs to prevent torture will be discussed, as well as the national implementation of the Specialized Medical-Psychological Instrument in Alleged Torture and/or Ill-treatment (Istanbul Protocol).

This presentation to an agency created by an international human rights treaty will be Mexico’s third since the enactment in June 2011 of an important constitutional amendment on human rights, which gives constitutional status to such treaties.

In addition to the institutions mentioned above, the Mexican delegation includes representatives from the Ministries of Interior, National Defense, Navy and Public Security, the Technical Secretariat of the Coordination Council for the Implementation of the Criminal Justice System, and representatives of the Supreme Court and the Council of the Federal Judiciary.

Mexico has been a party to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhumane or Degrading Treatment since 1986. It has so far presented six reports to the committee, which is expected to make recommendations to the Mexican government on how to move forward in the protection and promotion of human rights and particularly in the fight against torture.