osac crime and safety report: mexico

The United States Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) has issued a travel advisory for Americans planning to travel to Mexico for spring break. The report noted 40 state prisons experienced overcrowding. The army and the navy have human rights units to create protocols and training. Lopez had filed a complaint with the Interior Secretariat asking for greater government intervention in the indigenous Tsotsil regions following increased drug trafficking-related violence. A 2019 CNDH poll found six of every 10 members of the LGBTQI+ community reported experiencing discrimination in the past 12 months, and more than half suffered hate speech and physical aggression. Also in June a federal judge sentenced the former mayor of Chinipas, Chihuahua, Hugo Amed Schultz Alcaraz, to eight years in prison for his role in the 2017 murder of Miroslava Breach, a prominent La Jornada newspaper correspondent who reported on organized crime and corruption. Following Ramos killing, Cecilia Flores, the leader of one of the search collectives in which Ramos participated, received death threats. Jewish community representatives reported good cooperation with the government and other religious and civil society organizations in addressing rare instances of such acts. In March authorities in Mexico City opened an investigation based on allegations of rape against Andres Roemer, a prominent writer, producer, consular officer, and former UNESCO goodwill ambassador. In April authorities arrested and prosecuted Alexis Rafael Valadez Vazquez under the new law for publishing intimate photographs of women online, without their consent, to extort them. As of August, 25 of 32 states had specialized prosecutors offices for investigating torture, or specialized investigative units within the state attorney generals office as called for by law. COMARs budget increased modestly in recent years but was not commensurate with the growth in refugee claims in the country. The investigation continued as of August 30. Yet, the 2022 outlook for both the rule of law and public safety in Mexico and meaningful U.S.-Mexico security cooperation remains bleak. In 2019 a Mexico City court ordered academic Sergio Aguayo, a columnist of the daily newspaper Reforma, to pay a fine of 10 million pesos ($530,000) in moral damages to former Coahuila governor Humberto Moreira. OSAC 2021-N-0016, Standard for Initial Response at Scenes by Law Enforcement (added September 7, 2021 and sent to ASB for further development and publication). In most cases the law requires detainees to appear before a judge for a custody hearing within 48 hours of arrest, during which authorities must produce sufficient evidence to justify continued detention. In April authorities arrested 30 members of the navy and charged them with forced disappearances in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, in 2018. As of July, 39 percent of active unions under local jurisdiction had registered required amendments to their amended statutes to incorporate new secret ballot and gender equity requirements with the CABs. Governmental Posture Towards International and Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Abuses of Human Rights, Section 6. Investigations, prosecutions, and convictions for the crime of forced disappearance were rare. The law provides time limits and conditions on pretrial detention, but federal authorities sometimes failed to comply with them since caseloads far exceeded the capacity of the federal judicial system. Of the 32 states, 29 stipulate similar penalties, although sentences were often more lenient. Conditions in prisons and detention centers were often harsh and life threatening. By law workers may remove themselves from situations that endanger health or safety without jeopardy to their employment. The most common reason to remove content was defamation, followed by privacy and security. With no access to schools or child care, many workers took their children to work in the fields. Arbitrary Deprivation of Life and Other Unlawful or Politically Motivated Killings, c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Arrest Procedures and Treatment of Detainees, f. Arbitrary or Unlawful Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or Correspondence, a. The reforms prevent the registration of collective bargaining agreements known as protection contracts, which nonrepresentative unions often negotiated and signed without the knowledge of workers and undermined genuine collective bargaining. In May 2020 a constitutional amendment established the disability pension as a constitutional right, prioritizing children, indigenous, and Afro-Mexican persons with disabilities younger than age 64 who lived in poverty. In July the secretary of the navy publicly apologized to families of the victims, marking the first time the armed forces apologized for committing forced disappearances. During the electoral process the INE received 147 complaints of gender-based political violence, a significant increase from the 47 complaints it received during the 2017-2018 electoral process. OSAC's public-private partnership currently consists of over 5,400 organization and 18,000 individual members. From 1979 to 2020 only eight women had become governors. Under the labor reform, to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement, the union must first obtain a certificate of representativeness from the Federal Center demonstrating it has support from at least 30 percent of workers to be covered by the agreement. The Mexico 2017 Crime and Safety Report for Mexico City by the US Department of State's Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) indicates that crimes such as armed robberies, kidnappings, car thefts, credit card fraud and residential theft are "daily concerns" (US 24 Feb. 2017). The National Population Council reported that in 2020 there were 373,661 pregnancies in women younger than age 19 (30 percent above 2019), of which 8,876 were in girls ages 14 or younger. Penalties ranged from monetary fines to the cancellation of candidacies. According to civil society organizations, up to 3,250 persons, mostly women and children from indigenous communities, were forcibly displaced in July in Chenalho and Pantelho, Chiapas, due to territorial disputes between armed groups. State preventive police report to state governors, while municipal police report to mayors. Communities and NGOs representing indigenous groups criticized the government for failing to consult indigenous communities adequately when making decisions regarding extractive industry and natural resource development projects on indigenous lands. Between January and June, state authorities opened 10,458 new rape investigations. Most newspapers, television stations, and radio stations were privately owned. INEGI found that 53 percent of women of reproductive age used modern contraception in 2018 (the most recent study). Libel/Slander Laws: There are no federal criminal laws against defamation, libel, or slander; however, eight states have criminal laws on these acts. Violence by organized criminal groups often prompted the incidents, which took place in 10 states and displaced 11,560 persons as of August. Women, children, indigenous persons, persons with disabilities, LGBTQI+ persons, and migrants (including men, women, and children) were the most vulnerable to forced labor (see section 7.c.). As of August 16, authorities had not arrested any suspects. The U.S. government has limited ability to provide . Standards moving through the development process at standards developing organizations (SDOs). Political Parties and Political Participation: For the electoral process, the National Electoral Institute (INE) established the Three Out of Three Against Violence initiative, which required candidates to declare any history of domestic violence, sexual offenses, or failure to pay alimony. Between January and July COMAR processed approximately 25,000 cases. Online discrimination, harassment, and threats were problems particularly for women journalists and politicians, as well as any individuals and organizations advocating for womens rights. There were numerous instances of criminal armed groups extorting, threatening, or kidnapping asylum seekers and other migrants. The government did not effectively enforce the law or regulations. The rate of aggression against political figures during the election cycle was on par with the 2018 election, one of the most violent political periods in recent history. The government rarely investigated cases of alleged abusive and fraudulent recruitment practices. The CNDH maintained a human rights program to inform and assist members of indigenous communities. Media monopolies, especially in small markets, at times constrained freedom of expression. Day laborers and their children were the primary victims of forced and child labor in the agricultural sector, particularly in the production of chili peppers and tomatoes. Note: The safety and security equipment and services sector encompasses several different segments, including some defense products. Outsourcing practices made it difficult for workers to identify their legally registered employer, thus limiting their ability to seek redress of labor grievances. State-level prosecutors reported investigating at least 199 cases involving child trafficking victims in 2020. Police occasionally failed to provide impoverished detainees access to counsel during arrests and investigations as provided for by law, although the right to public defense during trial was generally respected. In July a joint investigation by media outlets reported a leaked Pegasus list of more than 15,000 individuals as possible targets for surveillance in 2016 and 2017. In May 2020 the CNDH reported that children were subjected to abuses such as torture, sexual violence, and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment at Ciudad de los Ninos, a private institution in Salamanca, Guanajuato. In June the Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision confirming that the exercise of the right to strike suspends the processing of collective conflicts of an economic nature that may be pending before the court and the topics that they present, unless the workers express in writing their agreement to submit the conflict to the decision of the court. Women were more likely to experience discrimination in wages, working hours, and benefits. Freedom of Association and the Right to Collective Bargaining, b. In most states alternative justice centers employed mechanisms such as mediation, negotiation, and restorative justice to resolve minor offenses outside the court system. INEGI reported that 2 percent of the population (2.5 million) self-identified as Afro-Mexican. Across the criminal justice system, many actors lacked the necessary training and capacity to carry out their duties fairly and consistently in line with the principle of equal justice. TYT.-. Gomez had advocated against illegal logging and the destruction of the Michoacan monarch butterfly habitat. Some companies reportedly did not implement effective protective measures for employees, and one factory, owned by Eaton Corporation in Baja California, was operating illegally and was closed after it placed chains on its doors to prevent 800 workers from leaving. Government officials stated that the harassment of Catholic priests and evangelical Protestant pastors reflected high levels of generalized violence throughout the country and not targeted attacks based on religious faith. A warrant for arrest is not required if an official has direct evidence regarding a persons involvement in a crime, such as having witnessed the commission of a crime; in a 2018 report, the domestic think tank Mexico Evalua determined that 90 percent of all arrests fell under this category. While the Supreme Court upheld the provisions, it noted the need for authorities to obtain a judicial warrant to access user metadata. After accumulating nine hours of overtime in a week, a worker earns triple the hourly wage. For example, journalists in Nogales, Sonora, said they were aware of unspoken red lines in covering organized crime and that crossing lines, such as mentioning the name of an alleged assailant, could result in personal harm. In April the government passed a penal code reform eliminating the statute of limitations for sexual crimes against minors, including child pornography distribution, child sex tourism, corruption of minors, pederasty, sexual abuse, and rape. Call this number to report violent crime, arrest, or grave . The reforms call for the creation of independent labor courts to replace the Conciliation and Arbitration Boards (CABs) that favored corporatist unions in the resolution of disputes and facilitated the registration of protection contracts. As of August 16, the suspects remained in detention awaiting trial. Between January and May there were an additional 20 complaints of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment against the National Guard, 20 against the army, and 11 against the National Migration Institute. In 2020 the STPS Federal Labor Inspectorate conducted almost 30,000 labor inspections nationwide but reported finding only one case of child labor. Civil society and families of the disappeared stated the governments actions to prevent and respond to disappearances were largely inadequate to address the scale of the problem. Their abduction followed the killings of two Yaqui activists and leaders: Thomas Rojo in May and Luis Urbano in June. In May in Chicoloapan, state of Mexico, municipal police beat and detained supporters of feminist groups as they led a protest against gender-based violence and political parties. famous las vegas male singers. The National Population Council estimated that in 2020 and 2021, a total of 1,172,000 women had limited access to contraceptives due to COVID-19. The government made efforts to prevent, investigate, and punish acts of disappearance involving government agents. The government continued its efforts to strengthen freedom of association protections, promote union democracy, and improve the ability of workers to bargain collectively. Most formal-sector workers (70 percent) received between one and three times the minimum wage. During the electoral season (September 2020 to June), assailants killed 36 candidates and 64 politicians. The survey also reported that persons with darker skin completed 6.5 years of schooling, while those with white skin completed 10 years. Calls included reports of relationship aggression, sexual assault, sexual harassment, rape, and intrafamily violence. He was a member of a search collective and the state search commission. It is also a criminal offense in all states. Criminal cases related to such violations were rarely carried out. In August the federal government signed a public-private partnership agreement with the Teleton Institute for it to provide rehabilitation services to 20,000 pension-receiving children. According to the NGO, institutional staff in Baja California reported that four children with disabilities died within days of each other with no known investigations. Many companies evaded taxes and social security payments by employing workers through subcontracting regimes or by submitting falsified payroll records to the Mexican Social Security Institute. Most internal affairs units, however, were insufficiently staffed and funded. In addition to the outstanding Zeron arrest warrant, the Special Unit for the Investigation and Litigation of the Ayotzinapa case issued 12 warrants and made 10 arrests for investigative irregularities, such as torture and obstruction of justice. Contribute to chinapedia/wikipedia.en development by creating an account on GitHub. ; For U.S. citizens: the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok can be reached via an emergency line: 02-205-4000. This guide covers all you need to know about the safety and security considerations for a trip to Mexico including Covid and pandemic related concerns, road safety, crime and more. Emergency contraception was available, including for survivors of sexual assault. There is no real history of political unrest in the state. The threat against journalists by organized crime was particularly high in the state of Guerrero. Posted on 26 Feb in delores winans grandchildren. The Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) was created in 1985 under the Federal Advisory Committee Act to promote security cooperation between American private-sector interests worldwide and the U.S. Department of State. Due to low internet penetration and television ownership in indigenous communities, distance learning was often inaccessible. The year started under the shadow of the brutal murders of the . With a judges consent, children may marry at younger ages. OSAC has developed into an enormously successful joint venture, with U.S. companies and organizations receiving the tools they need to cope with security issues in a . A variety of domestic and international human rights groups generally operated without government restriction, investigating and publishing their findings on human rights cases. According to the NGO Christian Solidarity Worldwide, Catholic-majority communities sometimes discriminated, harassed, threatened, displaced, denied basic services, and destroyed the property of individuals who left Catholicism. 03 / Select Countries You can add more than one country or area. According to National Security Secretariat statistics, between January and June, state-level prosecutors and attorneys general opened 495 femicide investigations throughout the country, exceeding the 477 state-level femicide investigations opened in the first half of 2020 (statistics from state-level reports often conflated femicides with all killings of women). State and municipal laws addressing domestic violence largely failed to meet the required federal standards and often were unenforced. For example, Felipe Orozco, hospitalized multiple times for mental disabilities, reported that mental health professionals from a psychiatric hospital in Puebla shackled him naked with a padlock during the nights for two and one-half weeks. Civil society organizations alleged that workers were prohibited from leaving by threats of violence or by nonpayment of wages. In June President Lopez Obrador announced that forensic scientists at the University of Innsbruck conclusively identified the remains of Jhosivani Guerrero, marking the third body identified of the 43 disappeared students. Femicide is a federal offense punishable by 40 to 70 years in prison. The group reported 16 acts of aggression against female journalists between January and July and called on the Puebla governor to guarantee the adoption of public policies to respect, protect, and guarantee the exercise of journalism. Some prisons were undersubscribed, while others were overcrowded. The federal government and states continued to implement the law on forced disappearances. Federal law sets six eight-hour days and 48 hours per week as the legal workweek. The CNDH may take on cases from state-level commissions if it receives a complaint that the state commission has not adequately investigated the case. Voting centers for federal elections were generally accessible for persons with disabilities, and ballots were available with a braille overlay for federal elections in Mexico City, but these services were inconsistently available for local elections elsewhere in the country. Organized criminal groups dominated migrant smuggling operations and often kidnapped, threatened, and extorted migrants to pay a fee for facilitating northbound travel. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the median salary for full-time female employees was 19 percent less than that of full-time male employees. Indeed, the Yucatan is one of the only states in Mexico with no transnational criminal organization or terrorist group. Figueroa collaborated with criminal organizations to kidnap the prosecutor general of Ixtapan de la Sal, state of Mexico, and others in 2019, resulting in the death of one of the prosecutor generals bodyguards. Freedom of expression advocacy groups reported the government, despite reductions in its advertising budgets, continued to have a strong financial impact and influence on the largest media companies. In June authorities sentenced Quintana Roo police officer Miguel Mora Olvera to five years in prison for his role in torturing Cacho. GitHub export from English Wikipedia. a > September,. Wage and Hour Laws: The tripartite National Minimum Wage Commission is responsible for establishing minimum salaries. In June another priest died in a cartel crossfire on the Durango-Zacatecas border. The reforms establish a four-year timeline for implementation designed to end May 1, 2023, but the government established an accelerated timeline to complete implementation by May 2022 and remained on track to meet that goal. Following the August 2020 killing of Pablo Morrugares, El Diario de Iguala newspaper published a note blaming organized crime and Governor Hector Astudillo Flores administration for violence against journalists and impunity. According to multiple NGOs, due to COVID-19s impact on the economy, funding sources for womens shelters, including for indigenous women, were insufficient. The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) issued a news release on November 5, 2021 announcing the 14 laboratories in its Crime Laboratory Division have been recognized as implementers of the standards on the OSAC Registry. Military Abuses and Extrajudicial Killings. Abuse of Migrants and Refugees: The press, international organizations, and NGOs reported targeting and victimization of migrants by criminal groups and in some cases by police, immigration officers, and customs officials, including at land borders and airports. The Federal Center and the new federal labor courts are designed to handle all matters related to collective bargaining agreements, but until the Federal Center establishes its offices in all the states, labor disputes in states without a Federal Center presence are to be handled by the CABs. Birth Registration: Children derive citizenship both by birth within the countrys territory and from their parents. Although authorities generally maintained effective control over the security forces, there were instances in which security force elements acted independently of civilian control. According to the measurement, which offers a balance for 2020, the capital of Potos has a rate of 37,400 victims per 100,000 inhabitants, only below Toluca, capital of the State of Mexico, with 38,300. The NGO also reported the existence of multiple unregistered private institutions without licenses operating as orphanages. The increase in domestic violence cases that began during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic continued. A 2016 ruling by the Supreme Court removed the cap on fines for moral damages, leaving journalists vulnerable to exorbitant fines. There were reports of journalists practicing self-censorship due to threats from criminal groups and government officials. The law criminalizes sharing, distributing, and publishing intimate sexual content (including photographs, audio, and videos) featuring individuals who have not explicitly given their consent, with penalties of up to six years in prison. The CNDH in its report on COVID-19 measures in holding facilities found most detention facilities could not comply with social distancing measures or several other health recommendations due to lack of space, personnel, or equipment. Citizens generally registered the births of newborns with local authorities. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy, 2021 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, Section 1. Subcontracting is allowed if it is used to perform specialized services unrelated to the main economic activity of businesses or public institutions. The governments National Protection Mechanism to Protect Journalists and Human Rights Defenders provided panic buttons, bodyguards, and temporary relocation to journalists and human rights defenders. The law provides for the freedoms of peaceful assembly and association, and the government generally respected these rights, with some exceptions. The Yucatan Peninsula Campeche, Quintana Roo, and Yucatan states has not suffered the same level of escalating violence seen in other parts of Mexico; however, there is some narco-related violence that affects Cancun (usually not in the . OSAC has developed into an enormously successful joint venture, with U.S. companies and organizations receiving the tools they need to cope with security issues in a . A report from the Black Alliance for Just Immigration found black migrants faced widespread racial discrimination from individuals and authorities, particularly in accessing employment and services. Western Hemisphere > Mexico > Merida 8/8/2013 Overall Crime and Safety Situation. All OSAC products and services are always completely free of charge. The CNDH noted significant understaffing at all levels in federal prisons, which affected access to programs, activities, medical services, and opportunities to report possible human rights abuses. Sign up with the U.S. State Department's Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP), a free service that alerts the local U.S. Embassy to your presence and connects you to regular updates on traveler safety. On May 18, an exhibit in Mexico City on Israeli innovation was vandalized with anti-Semitic and anti-Israel messages. Relatives of victims wait in anguish for news after a shooting July 1 at a drug rehabilitation center . State human rights commissions investigate state and municipal police forces and can issue similar recommendations. State labor inspectors, however, reported finding evidence of child labor, particularly in agricultural establishments. Use this as a starting point to plan your trip to Mexico and you can be sure you'll have a safe and enjoyable time. In August the Mexico City congress approved a reform allowing LGBTQI+ children ages 12 years and older to legally change their gender on their birth certificate. VFelbabBrown. Workers had to buy food and other items at the company store at high markups, at times leaving them with no money at the end of the harvest after settling debts. Drug traffickers involved in illegal logging recruited and kidnapped indigenous persons and children in isolated or displaced communities, withheld their wages, forced them to conduct illicit activities, and often threatened death if they tried to leave. Before a strike may take place, a union must file a notice to strike with the appropriate CAB, or the appropriate labor court once they are operational.

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