Over 120 organisations and networks submit report to the Committee against Torture: "torture is epidemic"

Geneva– As the UN Committee against Torture (UNCAT) is about to reviewMexico, a large consortium of human rights activists has raised the alarm aboutthe high numbers of torture and rape cases at the hands of the security forces,most of which have gone unpunished.

“Wehave come to Geneva to tell the experts on the UNCAT that torture, forceddisappearance and extrajudicial executions by agents of the State are a brutalreality in today’s Mexico”, said Stephanie Brewer, International Coordinator atCentro de Derechos Humanos Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez (Centro Prodh). “Moreoften than not, arrests result in physical violence, including electricalshocks, sexual violence, and other forms of cruel and inhuman treatment. Untilnow, impunity has reigned supreme”, added Ms Brewer.

Accordingto a new report, out of 8,335 torture investigations, the Federal SpecialProsecutor’s office reported in 2018 that it had brought charges in only 17cases. The army and the Navy have been identified as the worst offenders. Onesurvey quoted in the report shows that arrest by the Army carries an 86% riskof torture, while imprisoned women arrested by the Navy report being raped in41% of cases.

“Untilnow, the new government under President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador has keptquiet on this torture epidemic”, said Olga Arnaiz Zhuravleva, AdvocacyCoordinator at Red Nacional de Organismos Civiles de Derechos Humanos “Todoslos Derechos para Todas y Todos” (Red TdT).

“Worse,new laws, which include the creation of a militarized National Guard, arelikely to increase the incidence of torture. The authorities must act swiftlyand decisively to tackle the entrenched and systematic use of torture inMexico, by implementing the anti-torture law passed in June 2017, starting byconstructing the law’s National Anti-Torture Program with civil society”,stated Olga Guzmán Vergara, Advocacy Director at Comisión Mexicana para laDefensa y Promoción de los Derechos Humanos (CMDPDH).

Mexicowill be reviewed by UNCAT from 25 to 26 April 2019. The report, authored byover 120 Mexican and international human rights organizations, covers theperiod from 2012 to 2018. It details emblematic cases and paints a pattern ofabuse that targets in particular the poor, women, migrants, indigenous peoplesand human rights defenders. The report can be found at this link (Englishand Spanish).

Formore information, please contact

In Mexico:Quetzalcoatl g. Fontanot, Comunicación Red TDT, comunicacion@redtdt.org.mx,mobile: +52 1 5517966731, office +52 55239992

In Switzerland:Iolanda Jaquemet, World Organization against Torture, ij@omct.org mobile +41 79539 4106