Mexico’s military and police have committed widespread human rights violations in efforts to combat organized crime, virtually none of which are being adequately investigated. The 212-page report “Neither Rights Nor Security: Killings, Torture, and Disappearances in Mexico’s ‘War on Drugs,’” examines the human rights consequences of President Felipe Calderón’s approach to confronting Mexico’s powerful drug cartels.

A ruling on July 6, 2011, by Mexico’s Supreme Court should bring reform of Mexico’s flawed military justice system and accountability for soldiers accused of human rights violations closer. The court ruled that Mexico’s courts are obligated to comply with an Inter-American Court judgment in an enforced disappearance case and that its jurisprudence should be taken into account by Mexico’s judges.

President Obama should make human rights concerns a central component of discussions about Mexico's public security crisis when he meets with President Felipe Calderón on March 3, 2011.

In a recent fact-finding mission to Nuevo Leon, Human Rights Watch investigated eight killings during 2010 that evidence indicates were the result of unlawful use of lethal force by Army and Navy officers. Human Rights Watch also documented more than a dozen enforced disappearances in which the evidence points to the involvement of the Army, Navy, and police. Federal and state prosecutors should take immediate steps to prosecute those responsible.