Mexico Human Rights Report Seeks Reforms Sandra Dibble - San Diego Union-Tribune
go to original July 31, 2012

As allegations of human rights abuses by Mexico’s military have multiplied over the past 5 1/2 years, a new report is calling for civilian oversight of these cases and recommending legislative action to ensure that happens.

The Trans-Border Institute at the University of San Diego today is releasing a report urging Mexico’s incoming president, Enrique Peña Nieto, and the country’s new Congress to support revisions to the country’s code of military justice.

“The current sense of impunity within the armed forces will only begin to abate when military personnel are held accountable for their participation in human rights violations,” the report states. “The historical autonomy enjoyed by the Mexican military, coupled with high levels of public confidence, creates an environment of impunity that has been perpetuated by the Mexican government and the (military’s) unwillingness to enact judicial reform.”

The 49-page report tracks the rising number of accusations against Mexico’s military forces filed before the country’s National Human Rights Commission, a public institution that is independent of Mexico’s federal government. It also calls for reducing Mexico’s reliance on the military in counter-drug efforts, increasing human rights training for military and judicial sector personnel, and granting authority to the National Human Rights Commission to prosecute violations in certain cases before federal courts.

Since President Felipe Calderón took office in December 2006, the commission has issued 101 highly detailed reports that it calls recommendations in cases involving abuses by Mexican soldiers, and 17 involving the Mexican navy. The Trans-Border Institute’s report analyzes the commission’s recommendations, looking at the geographic location, the age and gender of the victim, and the type of abuses, including physical injury, illegal detention, torture, inhumane treatment and loss of life.

Read more at The San Diego Union-Tribune

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