VZCZCXRO9695
RR RUEHCD RUEHGD RUEHHO RUEHMC RUEHNG RUEHNL RUEHRD RUEHRS RUEHTM
DE RUEHME #0273/01 0302117
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 302117Z JAN 09
FM AMEMBASSY MEXICO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4885
INFO RUEHXC/ALL US CONSULATES IN MEXICO COLLECTIVE
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0273
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 1057

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MEXICO 000273 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM KJUS KCRM MX
SUBJECT: UN'S UNIVERSAL PERIODIC REVIEW OF HUMAN RIGHTS 
ELICITS BROAD PARTICIPATION BY MEXICAN CIVIL SOCIETY 
 
REF: 2008 STATE 13029 
 
¶1.  Action Request:  See para. 1, 6. 
 
¶2.  Summary.  Mexico's NGO community energetically 
contributed to the UN's upcoming review of Mexico's human 
rights record through the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) 
process.  Over 100 Mexican human rights NGOs collaborated in 
the preparation and submission of two reports while five 
domestic groups, three international NGOs (including Human 
Rights Watch and Amnesty International), and Mexico's 
semi-autonomous National Human Rights Commission separately 
submitted their own reports.  Many of the reports addressed 
common themes including inter alia concern about the 
military's involvement in efforts to combat organized crime, 
justice reform legislation authorizing lengthy detention of 
organized crime suspects, continued complaints about torture, 
attacks on journalists, violence against women, and 
discrimination against indigenous groups.  In the report it 
submitted to the UN for this review, the Mexican Government 
touched on many of these same issues but from a more positive 
perspective describing efforts to improve conditions.  The 
two sides did not meet eye to eye; the NGOs largely boycotted 
a meeting the Foreign Ministry called to discuss the UPR and 
the groups came down hard on the government's record in their 
reports.  Several leading members of Mexico's human rights 
community plan to travel to Geneva to participate in the 
upcoming review.  They have requested our assistance in 
arranging for a meeting with the U.S. delegation and we 
request the Department/US Mission Geneva's seriously consider 
meeting with them.  End Summary. 
 
¶2.  In preparing its own report, Mexico's Foreign Ministry 
(SRE) convened two meetings with members of Mexican civil 
society.  Madeleine Penman, the International Relations 
Coordinator for Mexican human rights NGO Centro Prodh, 
however, told us that a large number of Mexican human rights 
NGOs decided to collectively boycott the meetings out of 
frustration with the GOM for not taking into sufficient 
account concerns expressed in prior meetings.  Instead, on 
their own, over 100 Mexican human rights NGOs convened to 
collaborate on two separate joint reports.  In addition, 
another five Mexican human rights NGO's produced and 
submitted individual reports as did Human Rights Watch and 
Amnesty International.  Mexico's National Human Rights 
Commission also produced its own report. 
 
¶3.  Many of these reports touch on similar themes including 
inter alia the following: 
 
-- The "Militarization" of Mexico's Efforts to Combat 
Organized Crime: Most of the groups object to the Mexican 
military's involvement in the fight against organized crime 
arguing this responsibility should be delegated exclusively 
to the police.  They complain about abuses that have occurred 
at military checkpoints and in the course of military 
operations throughout Mexico alleging Mexico's security 
forces have applied excessive force in numerous instances. 
They insist cases of abuse by military officials be 
investigated and tried in civilian rather than military 
courts as is the present practice. 
 
-- Justice Reform:  While the groups applaud provisions in 
recently adopted justice reform legislation that will foster 
Mexico's implementation of an accusatory system of justice 
based on the presumption of innocence, they reject a measure 
that allows the government to detain suspects in organized 
crime cases for up to eighty days.  They maintain this 
measure known as "arraigo" violates due process guarantees, 
exposes defendants to torture, and could be used to suppress 
social movements. 
 
-- Torture:  At least one of the reports signed by fifty 
Mexican human rights NGOs asserted that "torture remains a 
systematic, generalized, and unpunished practice in Mexico." 
Notwithstanding hundreds of complaints of torture registered 
with the NGO community, as well as by the CNDH which received 
21 cases in 2008, Mexico has yet to convict a single official 
of torture giving rise to claims of impunity. 
 
-- Freedom of Expression:  Many groups reported that 24 
journalists had been killed over the last eight years, 8 in 
the last two years alone.  They complained that the office of 
the Special Prosecutor for Crimes Against Journalist created 
in 2006 has had little success in securing convictions of 
those implicated in attacks on journalists.  They worried 
that rising violence against journalists coupled with 
impunity enjoyed by their attackers was generating a climate 
of violence. 
 
 
MEXICO 00000273  002 OF 002 
 
 
-- Violence Against Women:  Amnesty International noted a 
poll that indicated over 67 percent of women fifteen and 
older had suffered some form of violence at home and that one 
in four women had lodged a complaint with authorities about 
violence suffered at the hands of a spouse or partner. 
Nevertheless, prosecutions and convictions of abusers remain 
very low.  Additionally, even though the government had taken 
measures to prevent and punish violence against women in 
Ciudad Juarez and Chijuajua, murders of women continued with 
more than 25 murdered in Ciudad Juarez between January and 
June 2008.  Another report complained that Mexico's newly 
embraced legislation against domestic violence suffered 
significant gaps impeding efforts to reduce violence. 
 
-- Discrimination Against Indigenous Groups: Several reports 
raised concerns about the government or private sector taking 
decisions affecting indigenous communities without properly 
consulting them.  Others make note of the poor socioeconomic 
conditions that prevail in many indigenous communities and 
the government's uneven efforts to address those concerns. 
 
GOM: We've Come a Long Way 
 
¶4.  The Mexican Government's report starts off with the 
premise that no one can assert that "violations are State 
policy in Mexico."  Mexico maintains that between 2001-2006, 
it ratified essentially every human rights treaty and 
recognized the competence of all judicial bodies; the 
remaining challenge lies in harmonizing national and local 
legislation to bring policies into compliance with these 
obligations.   In defense of its efforts to combat organized 
crime, the GOM stresses the importance it attaches to the 
rights citizens are entitled to when it comes to security and 
property.  The GOM is proud of its recently adopted National 
Human Rights Program which seeks to strengthen legal 
mechanisms for the promotion and protection of human rights 
and reinforce a culture of respect for human rights.  Mexico 
also draws attention to its agreement to allow the UN High 
Commissioner for Human Rights to open an office in Mexico 
2002 and its willingness to receive at least 21 international 
human rights mechanisms since 2001.  Notwithstanding its 
efforts to train law enforcement officials about the 
importance of human rights, the government recognizes that 
more needs to be done to address this problem. 
 
¶5.  Comment:  Clearly, the Mexican human rights NGO community 
is not only aware of the UPR process, but energetically 
committed to participating in it.  Centro Prodh's 
International Coordinator Madeleine Penman advised poloff 
that leading members of several groups plan to travel to 
Geneva to attend the session dedicated to Mexico and would 
welcome a meeting with members of the U.S. delegation. As 
U.S.-Mexican cooperation in combating organized crime grows, 
interest in Mexico's human rights conditions will continue to 
rise.  It is not unlikely that Mexico's review before the 
Human Rights Council will draw national attention. 
Collectively, the groups have put together some rather 
critical reports of the government's performance.  Post looks 
forward to using constructive recommendations that come out 
of this process to encourage the GOM to take measures to 
improve its human rights record and work more collaboratively 
with the human rights community. 
 
¶6.  Action Request:  Post requests Department/US Mission 
Geneva consider meeting with the representatives of the 
Mexican human rights NGO community that plan to attend the 
review of Mexico in February. 
Visit Mexico City's Classified Web Site at 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/mexicocity and the North American 
Partnership Blog at http://www.intelink.gov/communities/state/nap / 
BASSETT