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Mexico's National Human Rights Commission

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February 2008 Volume 20, No. 1(B) Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission A Critical Assessment I - Summary and Recommendations ...................................................................................................1 Remedies ....................................................................................................................................3 Reform ........................................................................................................................................4 Publicity ......................................................................................................................................4 Collaboration...............................................................................................................................5 Accountability .............................................................................................................................5 Recommendations...................................................................................................................... 6 To the CNDH......................................................................................................................... 6 To the Senate Human Rights Commission............................................................................. 8 II - Background ................................................................................................................................10 The CNDH’s Origins....................................................................................................................10 The CNDH’s Mandate, Structure, and Methods...........................................................................12 The CNDH’s Contribution to Human Rights Promotion................................................................. 14 III - Mexico’s Obligations Under International Law ........................................................................... 17 Obligation to Provide a Remedy ................................................................................................. 17 Obligation to Inform...................................................................................................................18 Victims’ Right to Participate .......................................................................................................24 Applicability to the CNDH.......................................................................................................... 26 IV - Remedies.................................................................................................................................. 30 Failing to Follow Up: Paradigmatic Cases.................................................................................... 31 Crimes of the “Dirty War”..................................................................................................... 31 Crackdown in Guadalajara...................................................................................................34 Crackdown in Atenco...........................................................................................................37 Murders of Women in Ciudad Juarez ................................................................................... 40 How the CNDH Limits Its Own Mandate ..................................................................................... 46 Rejected Recommendations ............................................................................................... 46 Accepted Recommendations ............................................................................................... 51 “Special Reports” and “General Recommendations” ...........................................................55 A Peculiar Interpretation of the “Legality Principle”..............................................................57 V - Reform........................................................................................................................................59 How the CNDH Limits Its Own Mandate ......................................................................................59 Military Jurisdiction over Human Rights Cases .....................................................................61 Discrimination against Military Officers Living with HIV....................................................... 66 Access to the Airwaves (The “Televisa Law”)........................................................................70 Reproductive Rights in Mexico City ......................................................................................74 Torture ................................................................................................................................78 Juvenile Detention Centers ..................................................................................................81 When the CNDH Pushes for Change............................................................................................83 VI - Publicity ................................................................................................................................... 86 Concealing Information on Abuses through “Conciliation” .........................................................87 Uncertain Benefits of Non-Disclosure ................................................................................. 89 An Unnecessary Price for Conciliation..................................................................................91 Conciliating Serious Human Rights Abuses......................................................................... 92 Applying Broad Confidentiality Norms....................................................................................... 94 VII - Collaboration..........................................................................................................................100 Human Rights Victims..............................................................................................................100 A Policy of Exclusion.......................................................................................................... 103 Other Human Rights Bodies .....................................................................................................106 UNHCHR............................................................................................................................106 The Executive’s Human Rights Office ................................................................................. 107 State Commissions ...........................................................................................................108 VIII - Accountability........................................................................................................................ 112 The Need for Accountability ..................................................................................................... 112 Independent Accountability Mechanisms..................................................................................113 The National Congress .......................................................................................................113 The Advisory Council ......................................................................................................... 116 Federal Superior Auditor.................................................................................................... 119 Transparency...........................................................................................................................120 Incomplete Public Disclosure ............................................................................................ 121 Applying Broad Confidentiality Norms ............................................................................... 122 Prohibitively High Costs for Copies .................................................................................... 124 Limited Review Mechanism ...............................................................................................126 Acknowledgements........................................................................................................................ 127 I - Summary and Recommendations The National Human Rights Commission (Comision Nacional de los Derechos Humanos, CNDH), Mexico’s official human rights organ, is failing to live up to its promise. The CNDH has made some valuable contributions to human rights promotion in Mexico over the years, providing detailed and authoritative information on specific human rights cases and usefully documenting some systemic obstacles to human rights progress. But when it comes to actually securing remedies and promoting reforms to improve Mexico’s dismal human rights record, the CNDH’s performance has been disappointing. The CNDH’s principal objective is to ensure that the Mexican state remedies human rights abuses and reforms the laws, policies, and practices that give rise to them. Given the pervasive and chronic failure of state institutions to do either, the CNDH is often the only meaningful recourse available to victims seeking redress for past abuses. It is also, potentially, the most important catalyst for the changes that are urgently needed in Mexico to prevent future human rights violations. The CNDH’s failure to carry out these functions effectively has not been due to a lack of resources. The CNDH’s 2007 budget of approximately US$73 million is by far the largest of any ombudsman’s
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