Over Two Dozen Human Rights Groups Call on Mexican Congress to Act on Torture Television del Sur
go to original February 7, 2016

Torture and ill-treatment in Mexico is out of control with a 600 per cent rise in the number of reported cases in the past decade, according to a report published by Amnesty International. (Amnesty International)

A collection of Mexican human rights organizations, grassroots groups, and social movements issued a public letter to the Mexican Congress to take definitive steps to end the practice of torture in the country, which has been described as “widespread” by the United Nations.

“Torture has been used by the Mexican government for a long time in order to obtain information (and) confessions, punish, and sexually assault and reduce the humanity of thousands of people living in or passing through Mexico,” read the first line of the letter signed by over two dozen groups.

The organizations expressed regret that, despite regular meetings with the office of the presidency, the anti-torture bill proposed by President Enrique Peña Nieto fell far short of their expectations.

According to the letter, Peña Nieto submitted his draft of the bill to the congress without consulting the organizations that had been accompanying the development of the bill.

Human rights groups had been meeting with the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic since October 2015 and had reached a series of agreements regarding the inclusion of minimum international standards in the bill that would ensure the legislation would indeed lead to end of the practice of torture in Mexico.

Read the rest at Television del Sur

Related: Breaking the Silence: Sexual Violence Against Women as Form of Torture Has Increased (Mexico Voices)

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