30th session of the Human Rights Council: Joint statement: Mexico must abolish arraigo

Joint statement by the Mexican Commission for theDefense and Promotion of Human Rights (CMDPDH), World Organization against Torture(OMCT) and the Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT)

Mr.President,

TheMexican Commission for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights, the WorldOrganization against Torture and the Association for the Prevention of Torture, welcomethe Report of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and share its concernsregarding forms of detention to investigate, including “arraigo”, orother that diminish a person’s ability to challenge his or her detention. Weagree that these forms of detention affect the presumption of innocence andoverwhelm the justice system.

In Mexico, while there have been improvements in thecriminal justice system as a result of a Constitutional amendment in 2008, suchas the transition to a adversarial criminal justice system, this amendment alsointroduced an abusive and undemocratic practice: the arraigo.

Arraigo is a federalprecautionary measure to deprive of liberty those persons suspected to be partof organized crime. It issupposed to be used as a means of investigating criminal suspects, but inpractice, it is used to give more time for the authorities, before bringingformal charges before a judge. Arraigo is currently used for a period upto 40 days, but can be extended to 80 days.

This measure is a form of arbitrary detention clearlycontrary to Mexican human rights’ obligations and violates, among others, therights of personal freedom, legality, presumption of innocence, due process andjudicial review. Moreover, the arraigo places detainees in a situationof heightened vulnerability and in an increased risk of being subject totorture or other form of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

Mr. President,

Preventive detention in Mexico has therefore becomethe systematic technique, most commonly used in criminal investigations inMexico. From 2009 – 2014 a total of14,523 requests for arraigo wereissued from the Attorney General’s Office. From the 8,595persons detained under arraigo in theperiod from 2008 – 2011, only the 3.2 percent of them were sentenced. 7,943 detentions were for drug-related crimes. The highnumbers of people detained under arraigo atthe federal level lead us to conclude that there has been an abuse of this practiceat the detriment of the rights of the persons detained.

Mr. President,

We therefore callon the members of the Council and the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, tourge the Mexican State to immediately eliminate arraigo from law andpractice, as recommended by numerous UN human rights mechanisms.

Thank you, Mr.Chairman.