• Human Rights in Mexico

    Mexico’s military and police have committed widespread human rights violations in their efforts to combat violent drug cartels—including killings, torture and disappearances—which have only exacerbated a climate of lawlessness and fear in many parts of the country. These violations persist, and in fact have increased, because the members of security forces who commit them are virtually never held accountable.

    Human rights defenders and journalists who document these abuses and cartel violence are targeted for attack by criminal groups and members of security forces alike. Yet Mexico has failed to protect these vulnerable groups and adequately investigate the crimes against them. 

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Mexico

  • Mexico: Letter to President Peña Nieto
    Dec 11, 2012

    On behalf of Human Rights Watch, I wish to congratulate you on your inauguration as president. You have assumed leadership of a country whose recent human rights record is appalling. Addressing the abuses committed during the tenure of your predecessor and preventing them in the future will require immediate attention at the highest levels of your administration. I write to urge you to rapidly set out a concrete, detailed plan to address these serious problems.

  • Mexico: Letter to Nuevo León Congress on Criminalizing Enforced Disappearances
    Oct 26, 2012

    On behalf of Human Rights Watch, I am writing to offer recommendations regarding the potential reform of Nuevo León’s criminal code to include the crime of enforced disappearance. We understand that the newly inaugurated state congress intends to undertake this reform before the end of the year, and we support efforts to address this serious problem.

  • US: Don’t Recommend Immunity for Mexico Ex-President Ernesto Zedillo
    Sep 6, 2012
    The US State Department should not issue a recommendation to grant the former president of Mexico, Ernesto Zedillo, immunity in a civil suit, Human Rights Watch said. The State Department is expected to notify a US district court judge in Connecticut on or before September 7, 2012 of its recommendation regarding whether Zedillo, who served from 1994 to 2000, should be granted immunity in a lawsuit alleging his responsibility for a massacre carried out when he was president.
  • Awards for Rights Activists from Congo, Libya
    Aug 14, 2012
    Abbé Benoît Kinalegu from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Salah Marghani from Libya have been selected as recipients of the prestigious Alison Des Forges Award for Extraordinary Activism. Recipients of this award are leading voices for justice in their countries, working relentlessly to protect the rights and dignity of others.
  • Consuelo Morales, Mexico
    Aug 12, 2012
    Sister Consuelo Morales works in Mexico to defend victims of human rights violations and hold their abusers accountable.
  • Mexico: Court’s Historic Opportunity to Address Military Impunity
    Aug 6, 2012

    Mexico’s Supreme Court has a momentous opportunity to reform the military justice system and eliminate one of the greatest sources of impunity for grave human rights violations, Human Rights Watch said today.

  • Mexico: Letter to Senate on Military Justice Reform
    Apr 10, 2012
    This letter will lay out three principles that are essential to ensuring that alleged abuses committed by military personnel are investigated and prosecuted in a civilian justice system that is independent and impartial, in accordance with international human rights principles and the jurisprudence of Mexico’s Supreme Court.
  • Mexico: Widespread Rights Abuses in ‘War on Drugs’
    Nov 9, 2011

    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.

  • Seeking Justice for Mexico’s Disappeared
    Oct 31, 2011
    Sister Consuelo Morales has seen the number of people in Monterrey who are tortured, killed, or “disappeared” skyrocket in the four years since Mexico’s president unleashed the military to combat drug cartels. 
  • Global: Human Rights Watch Honors 7 Activists
    Aug 8, 2011
    Seven courageous and tireless advocates for human rights will be honored in November 2011 with the prestigious Alison Des Forges Award for Extraordinary Activism.
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