Open letter to President Andrés Manuel López Obrador:
Read the open letter (in Spanish) to President López Obrador from the ATI and the Omega Research Foundation recommending that Article 25, Number II of the Agreement published on August 25 in the Diario Oficial de la Federación be amended.
FIELDWORK & ASSESSMENTS
The 10th of December of 2017, Professor Méndez, together with the Ariel Dulitzky, former President of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, and Christof Heinz, former UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions, released an official statement expressing deep concern over Mexico's approval of the Internal Security Act.
In an interview with renowned journalist Carmen Aristegui, Professor Juan Méndez emphasized that the military presence on national security interventions aggravates the risk of torture and human rights violations, claiming that these security bodies do not have the right training and follow a lethal friend-enemy logic, which is not adequate to address internal conflicts such as the one is taking place in Mexico.
Visit to Mexico – April – May 2014.
Professor Mendez's official visit to Mexico, began on April 21, 2014 and concluded Friday, May 2, 2014 with a press conference during which the former Special Rapporteur presented preliminary observations and findings about the visit. The event in Mexico City, which was attended by many journalists. Profesor Mendez also gave an interview with CNN Espanol’s Carmen Aristegui, which is now available to view online.
In this preliminary observations, the former Special Rapporteur revealed that torture is common and widespread amongst all levels of authority, from the military to local and state police. Torture typically occurs in the initial stages between a detainee’s arrest and appearance before a judge, and include beatings with fists, feet and sticks, asphyxiation with plastics bags, and electric shock. It is used in particular as a means to extract confessions and obtain information, and regularly occurs in police vehicles or illegal hideouts away from police stations or jails.
During his visit, Professor Mendez met with civil society, victims, and high-level government authorities in different parts of the country, including the Federal District, Nuevo Leon, Chiapas and Baja California. Read the press release detailing the Special Rapporteur’s activities during the visit, an English-language news article from the Associated Press, and a Spanish-language article from CNN Espanol about the visit here.
Many NGOs that took part in the meetings compiled and presented in-depth information for the former Special Rapporteur, which can be accessed here. Some of the NGOs included the Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Francisco de Vitoria OP, Fundación para la Justicia, Ciudadanos en Apoyo a los Derechos Humanos, and Instituto para la Seguridad y la Democracia, AC-Insyde, among many others.
Following the former Special Rapporteur’s press conference and preliminary observations, many local news sources reported extensively on the visit and on his findings.
CAPACITY BUILDING & PARTNERSHIPS
March 13 of 2017: "Retos de la Implementación del Protocolo de Estambul en México" event at the National Auronomous University of Mexico.
March 15 of 2017: Profesor Méndez was honored with a tribute for his commitment to a free Mexico at the Museum for Memory and Tolerance in Mexico City.
August 26 of 2016: Professor Méndez assisted the 10th anniversary of FLASCO master’s program on Human Rights and Democracy.
April 18 of 2016: Professor Méndez visited the Senate and met with some representatives to discuss the legislative projects “Ley Nacional de Ejecución Penal” and “Ley General de Tortura”. The former Special Rapporteur on Torture insisted that torture should be a criminal offence punishable by appropriate penalties that take into account their grave nature.
March 10 of 2016: The former Special Rapporteur on Torture had an interview with media enterprise PANORAMA. During the interview, he protested about what he considered to be defamatory statements against himself and other human rights defenders by Isabel Miranda de Wallace, president of the organization Alto al Secuestro.
September 9 of 2015: Professor Mendez saluted the creation of the independent group of experts on the forced disappearance of 43 students of Ayotzinapa, by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
RESOURCES
Informe de seguimiento del Relator Especial sobre la tortura y otros tratos o penas crueles, inhumanos o degradantes - México (Spanish only)
Report of the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Juan E. Méndez, mission to Mexico.
Press release related to the creation of an inter-diciplinary group on the forced disappearance of 43 students of Ayotzinapa by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
Press release “Approval of Mexico’s Internal Security Act, a serious threat to human rights”