Mexico Before the UN Human Rights Council

by Nina

Saturday, June 20, 2009 at 10:48 AM EDT

Human Rights Watch before the UN Human Rights Council for the Universal Periodic Review of Mexico:

Since President Calderon deployed thousands of troops to combat drug trafficking, there has been a dramatic increase in complaints of military abuses. The dysfunctional Mexican military justice system routinely takes over the investigation of even the most egregious abuses, including alleged rapes, killings, arbitrary detentions, and torture, by adopting an excessively broad definition of what constitutes an "act of service." This broken system has led to impunity. As of April 2009, the military attorney general has been unable to provide a single example in the last ten years in which a member of the military accused of committing a human rights violation was convicted by military courts.

Read the full oral statement here.

Also check out this joint oral statement on the independence of judges, delivered with the Miguel Austin Pro Juarez Human Rights Center (Center Prodh), among others. Centro Prodh is doing some really important work on civilian control over the armed forces in the drug war here, as evidenced by their recent reports.

Media from the Universal Periodic Review is available from the OHCHR's website.

This article originally appeared on Drugs, Law and Conflict.