Justice Report Accuses Mexico of Crimes Against Humanity in Drug War Elisabeth Malkin - The New York Times
go to original June 6, 2016

Undeniable Atrocities: Confronting Crimes against Humanity in Mexico

They are killed at military checkpoints, vanish inside navy facilities or are tortured by federal police officers. Seldom are their cases investigated. A trial and conviction are even more rare.

But are these cases just regrettable accidents in the course of a decade-long government battle against drug violence? A new report by the Open Society Justice Initiative, which works on criminal justice reforms around the world, argues that they are not. Instead, the study says, they point to a pattern of indiscriminate force and impunity that is an integral part of the state’s policy.

And in the framework of international law, the study argues, the killings, forced disappearances and torture constitute crimes against humanity.

The evidence is “overwhelming,” said James A. Goldston, the executive director of the New York-based Justice Initiative, which will release the report on Tuesday. “In case after case, army actors and federal police have been implicated.”

But in all but a few cases, the allegations languish, are dismissed or are reclassified. “The impunity is a loud signal that crimes against humanity are being committed,” Mr. Goldston said.

The Justice Initiative report is the first time an international group has made a public legal argument that the pattern of abuses amounts to crimes against humanity. The finding is significant, Mr. Goldston said, because under the lens of international law, an investigation would seek to determine the chain of command behind the policy.

The government of President Enrique Peña Nieto rejected the conclusions.

Read the rest at The New York Times

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