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 . Zeron led the investigation of the case by the former criminal investigations unit in the Attorney Generals Office at the time of the students disappearances. Outsourcing practices made it difficult for workers to identify their legally registered employer, thus limiting their ability to seek redress of labor grievances. According to the victims mother, police detained and interrogated him without reasonable suspicion or probable cause. Various news outlets showed a video of two National Migration Institute agents with riot gear and shields grabbing one migrant, knocking him to the ground, and kicking him. The midterms marked a large increase in female candidates. Discrimination in employment or occupation occurred against women, indigenous groups, persons with disabilities, LGBTQI+ individuals, and migrant workers. Most formal-sector workers (70 percent) received between one and three times the minimum wage. According to civil society groups, migrants at some detention centers faced abuse when commingled with gang members and other criminals. All states have additional laws against discrimination. Nationwide the CNB reported the exhumation of the remains of at least 3,025 persons in 1,749 clandestine graves between December 1, 2018, and June 30. There were reports of numerous forced disappearances by organized crime groups, sometimes with allegations of state collusion with authorities. In March 2020 a federal judge issued an arrest warrant for Zeron on charges related to his conduct of the investigation, including torturing alleged perpetrators to force confessions, conducting forced disappearances, altering the crime scene, manipulating evidence, and failing to perform his duties. Coordinator for the Arctic Region, Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources, Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization, Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security, Bureau of Arms Control, Verification and Compliance, Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation, Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights, Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, Office of International Religious Freedom, Office of the Special Envoy To Monitor and Combat Antisemitism, Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment, Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, Office of the Science and Technology Adviser, Bureau of the Comptroller and Global Financial Services, Bureau of Information Resource Management, Office of Management Strategy and Solutions, Bureau of International Organization Affairs, Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, U.S. There were reports the government did not always investigate and punish those complicit in abuses against LGBTQI+ persons, especially outside Mexico City. On March 11, an anticorruption and antinepotism constitutional reform granted the Federal Judiciary Council the administrative organ of the federal court system more oversight over district and appeals courts and limited hiring authorities of individual judges. The Federal Center took over registration functions nationwide on November 3 and was preparing to launch a national union registry to contain all files related to union registration and statutes, collective bargaining agreements, and union financial statements. In addition, Consular Messages, Travel Warnings, and Travel Alerts are also available. Three states have state-level IDP laws, but the country does not have a federal internal displacement law, which created challenges in resource allocation and interagency governmental coordination. in alan wong married. On April 24, congress approved a reform to the labor law aimed at banning subcontracting of personnel for core or main economic activities in the public and private sectors. On July 21, Merida, Yucatan, municipal police detained Jose Eduardo Ravelo Echeverria. The STPS is responsible for carrying out child labor inspections and refers cases of child labor to the Prosecutor Generals Office for sanctions. 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. In the first six months of the year, Article 19 registered 362 attacks against journalists and accused public officials of committing 134 of them. As of August 27, there were no updates in this investigation. Any corporate, non-profit, academic, faith-based or other U.S.-incorporated organization of any size with operations outside the United States may apply to join. Standards moving through the development process at standards developing organizations (SDOs). The states where the most political violence occurred were Veracruz, followed by Guerrero and Guanajuato. OSAC is a partnership between the U.S. Department of State and private-sector security community. Recent Elections: International observers considered the midterm elections (legislative, gubernatorial, and local) to be generally free and fair, with only minor reports of irregularities. In 2019 the Federal Police was disbanded, and in May 2020 all remaining assets and personnel transferred to the National Guard. 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. Some prisons were undersubscribed, while others were overcrowded. Penalties for law violations regarding occupational safety and health regulations were commensurate with those for other similar laws but were rarely enforced. The law also provides for the rights of appeal and of bail in most categories of crimes. 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. There is no single independent oversight mechanism to review police actions, but many federal and state security and justice sector institutions have internal affairs units providing internal supervision and promoting best practices for transparency and accountability. There were no reports of political prisoners or detainees. On August 7, Yucatan governor Mauricio Villa announced the arrest of four police officers, but on August 14, a judge set them free due to a lack of evidence. As of October the Special Unit for the Investigation and Litigation of the Ayotzinapa case had arrested more than 80 suspects, including army captain Jose Martinez Crespo, an Iguala municipal police officer, and the Iguala municipal police chief. From January to June, the CNDH received nine complaints accusing government agents of forced disappearances, including five against the army and four against the National Guard. In Chiapas in July an unidentified perpetrator killed Simon Pedro Perez Lopez, a human rights activist and member of the Las Abejas de Acteal civil society organization. Federal authorities supported access to contraceptive methods, but states efforts varied widely. 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. Following Ramos killing, Cecilia Flores, the leader of one of the search collectives in which Ramos participated, received death threats. On May 18, an exhibit in Mexico City on Israeli innovation was vandalized with anti-Semitic and anti-Israel messages. 03 / Select Countries You can add more than one country or area. 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. The list named at least 50 persons linked to President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, politicians from every party, as well as journalists, lawyers, activists, prosecutors, diplomats, judges, and academics. Federal law prohibits arbitrary arrest and detention and provides for the right of any person to challenge the lawfulness of his or her arrest or detention in court; however, the government sometimes failed to observe these requirements. Local commentators pointed to the electoral authorities quick and transparent publishing of results as increasing citizen trust in the electoral and democratic system. The order specifically called for an investigation into the role of the chain of command and the military order to "take down criminals.". The constitution and law prohibit discrimination with respect to employment or occupation. As of August 16, authorities had not arrested any suspects. In a June International Organization for Migration survey, 20 percent of citizens and 35 percent of third-country migrants reported using a smuggler to arrive to the U.S.-Mexico border. Social programs to combat child labor did not address all sectors where child labor occurred. As of December 2020 the Prosecutor Generals Office was investigating 3,703 torture-related inquiries under the previous inquisitorial legal system (initiated prior to the 2016 transition to an accusatorial system) and 565 investigations under the accusatorial system. Women tended to earn substantially less than men did for the same work. Country Summary: Violent crime - such as homicide, kidnapping, carjacking, and robbery - is widespread and common in Mexico. ; For U.S. citizens: the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok can be reached via an emergency line: 02-205-4000. 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. 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. Birth Registration: Children derive citizenship both by birth within the countrys territory and from their parents. Some areas of Mexico have increased risk of crime and kidnapping. There is no real history of political unrest in the state. 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. OSAC 2021-N-0015, Guiding Principles for Scene Investigation and Reconstruction (added September 7, 2021 and sent to ASB for further development and publication). Mexico is a multiparty federal republic with an elected president and bicameral legislature. Discrimination and Societal Abuses, Systemic Racial or Ethnic Violence and Discrimination, Acts of Violence, Criminalization, and Other Abuses Based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, Other Societal Violence or Discrimination, a. Legally mandated joint management and labor committees set standards and are responsible for overseeing workplace standards in plants and offices. Penalties ranged from monetary fines to the cancellation of candidacies. 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. Documentation supporting a persons identity and origin was lacking. The STPS has the authority to order labor inspections at any time in the event of labor law violations, imminent risk to employees, or workplace accidents. Posted on 26 Feb in delores winans grandchildren. The National Guard and state and municipal police are responsible for enforcing the law and maintaining order. Authorities arrested four police officers and charged them with femicide (killing a woman because of her gender). As of June, 58 percent of women in federal prison and 51 percent in municipal and state prisons were in pretrial detention, while 42 percent of men in the federal and local judicial system were in pretrial detention, according to a report from the Secretariat of Security and Civilian Protection. The law prohibits such practices and requires search warrants. Twelve states have laws restricting public demonstrations. An additional February reform mandated pretrial detention for femicides, sexual violence against minors, forced disappearances, and corruption. 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. During the electoral season (September 2020 to June), assailants killed 36 candidates and 64 politicians. All states have their own human rights commissions. As of August 23, Marin was awaiting trial. with disabilities attended school at a lower rate than those without disabilities. In June a federal judge sentenced Juan Francisco Picos Barrueto to 32 years in prison for the 2017 murder of journalist Javier Valdez Cardenas. State governments reported investigating 12 suspected forced labor cases in 2020. There were 50 hate-crime homicides and four forced disappearances committed against the LGBTQI+ community in the first eight months, according to the National Observatory of Crimes Against LGBTQI persons. Nonetheless, discrimination was common against racial and ethnic minorities, including Black, Afro-Mexican, and indigenous groups. As of October the accused were in a military prison awaiting trial. Politicians publicly discredited and criticized such journalists, however. After accumulating nine hours of overtime in a week, a worker earns triple the hourly wage. These included low wages, contentious labor management, long work hours, unjustified dismissals, a lack of social security benefits, unsafe workplaces, and no freedom of association. 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. Of the 500 legislators in the Chamber of Deputies, 250 were women, 1 percent more than after the 2018 elections. 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. The Federal Center also carries out mandatory pre-judicial conciliations at the federal level, with local conciliation centers carrying out the same function at the state level. 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. As of July, 94 percent of active unions under federal jurisdiction had registered their amended statutes with the Secretariat of Labor and Social Welfare (STPS), but only 39 percent of active unions under local jurisdiction had registered their amendments with the CABs. Abuses of time limits on pretrial detention were endemic in state judicial systems. He was a member of a search collective and the state search commission. The state commissions are funded by state legislatures and are semiautonomous. Government failures to investigate and prosecute attacks on protesters and human rights defenders resulted in impunity for these crimes, consistent with high impunity rates for all crimes. There were repeated reports of excessive use of force by police officials when detaining people or policing protests and by members of the National Migration Institute (INM) and the National Guard against migrants. Access to justice was limited. 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. In addition to criminal libel and defamation laws, civil law defines moral damage as similar to defamation concerning harm to a persons feelings, affections, beliefs, dignity, honor, reputation, and privacy, according to the NGO Committee to Protect Journalists. Western Hemisphere > Mexico > Merida 8/8/2013 Overall Crime and Safety Situation. If the relevant authority accepts a CNDH recommendation, the CNDH is required to follow up with the authority to verify that it is carrying out the recommendation. The year started under the shadow of the brutal murders of the . The NGO Mexican Commission for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights identified 15 incidents between January and July of mass forced internal displacement (defined as the displacement of at least 10 families or 50 individuals) due to violence. According to a 2019 National Child Labor Survey, the number of children ages five to 17 in child labor, including in hazardous household work, was 3.3 million, or approximately 11.5 percent of children in the country. In March attackers shot and killed Father Gumersindo Cortes in Guanajuato. The minimum age for hazardous work is 18, including all work in the agricultural sector. A forensic doctor at the Yucatan Prosecutor Generals Office confirmed that he had suffered sexual abuse. 0 . NGOs reported no changes in the mental health system to create community services or any efforts by authorities to have independent experts monitor human rights abuses in psychiatric institutions. osac mexico 2021 crime and safety report. Penalties for law violations regarding hours and minimum wage were commensurate with those for other similar laws but were rarely enforced. Failure to register births could result in the denial of public services such as education or health care. In July the CNB reported it had recovered more than 1,100 pounds of charred human remains from La Bartolina, Tamaulipas, a clandestine cremation site found in 2017. In March police officers broke the neck of Salvadoran refugee Victoria Salazar. TYT.-. As of August 16, the suspects remained in detention awaiting trial. This announcement was also reshared on the local news outlet, MyParisTexas. 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. Indigenous defendants who did not speak Spanish sometimes were unaware of the status of their cases and were convicted without fully understanding the documents they were instructed to sign. As a result the number of pretrial detainees increased 25 percent since 2018, and pretrial detainees comprised 40 percent of all prisoners, according to government figures. State search collectives reported being victims, at times fatal, of attacks, threats, and other acts of harassment. Defendants have the right to an attorney of their choice at all stages of criminal proceedings. Indeed, the Yucatan is one of the only states in Mexico with no transnational criminal organization or terrorist group. State and federal prosecutors are independent of the executive branch and have the final authority to investigate and prosecute security force abuses. 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 law states that the principle of gender parity should be observed in the designation of cabinet members, selection of candidates for public office by every political party, and designation of members of the judiciary. The National Migration Institute, under the authority of the Interior Secretariat, is responsible for enforcing migration law. At the federal level, the Secretariat of Social Development, Prosecutor Generals Office, and National System for Integral Family Development share responsibility for inspections to enforce child labor laws and to intervene in cases in which employers violate such laws. The reforms also establish an expedited and more transparent judicial process for unions to obtain collective bargaining rights. International Child Abductions: The country is party to the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. From 2013 through . Federal labor law requires a minimum of 20 workers to form a union. The OSAC Program Office is headquartered in Washington, DC and is overseen by a 34-member public-private Council. Approximately 23 percent of informal workers (6.8 million persons) were employed by formal businesses or organizations but paid in cash off the books to evade taxes and social security payments. The Interior Secretariat registered 224 verbal and physical attacks against journalists in 2020 and a total of 1,052 between 2015 and 2020, 41 percent of which the secretariat attributed to public servants. Crime Threats. The new vote took place on August 17-18, and a majority of workers rejected the collective bargaining agreement. Lozoya accused high-level politicians representing multiple parties of complicity in his corrupt acts and was acting as a states witness in trials against them. In July the Supreme Court ruled that authorities at all levels must investigate enforced disappearances, search for disappeared persons, and inform victims of the process. According to civil society, libel and defamation proceedings tripled from 11 cases in 2019 to 33 cases in 2020. Enrollment of children with disabilities decreased by 40 percent during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Yo Tambien. During the first six months of 2021 the INEGI reported a total 16,972 (provisional) and the SESNSP reported 16,950 murders. Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) | 11,629 followers on LinkedIn. Calls included reports of relationship aggression, sexual assault, sexual harassment, rape, and intrafamily violence. by . Several outbreaks of COVID-19 resulted in multiple deaths. State labor inspectors, however, reported finding evidence of child labor, particularly in agricultural establishments. Not all public defenders were qualified, however, and often the state public defender system was understaffed. Some civil society groups, however, asserted that state commissions were subservient to the state executive branch. 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. On July 14, 10 indigenous men from the Yaqui tribe living in Sonora disappeared while transporting cattle in Bacum. The OSAC app offers many of these tools and reports that are provided on the website. Enforcement was inadequate in many small companies, in agriculture, and in construction, and nearly absent in the informal sector in which most child laborers worked. The filtering tool offers the user the ability to fully customize the app and . Subcontracting is allowed if it is used to perform specialized services unrelated to the main economic activity of businesses or public institutions. Emergency contraception was available, including for survivors of sexual assault. The order directed the Attorney General's Office to reopen the investigation into the 2014 killings of 22 civilians by members of the military in Tlatlaya, Mexico State. 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). While penalties for conviction of forced labor were commensurate with those for similar crimes, very few cases were successfully prosecuted. Between January and April the Office of the Special Prosecutor for Electoral Crimes in the Attorney Generals Office initiated 14 investigations related to gender-based political violence against women. Enforcement, however, was inconsistent across the states. The CNDH headquarters are located in Mexico City. Impunity and extremely low rates of prosecution remained a problem for all crimes, including human rights abuses and corruption. In February authorities arrested 12 state police officers in Camargo, Tamaulipas, on homicide charges in connection with the massacre and burning of the bodies of three smugglers and 16 Guatemalan migrants en route to the United States. Significant human rights issues included credible reports of: unlawful or arbitrary killings by police, military, and other governmental officials; forced disappearance by government agents; torture and degrading treatment by security forces; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary arrest or detention; restrictions on free expression and media, including violence against journalists; acts of corruption; insufficient investigation of and accountability for gender-based violence, including but not limited to domestic and intimate partner violence; crimes involving violence or threats of violence targeting persons with disabilities; and crimes involving violence or threats of violence targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex persons. In response to a 2020 civil society organization lawsuit, a Mexico City court ruled authorities must implement COVID-19 detection and preventive health protocols for detainees and their families in prisons in Mexico City and psychiatric wards nationwide. There were reports of journalists practicing self-censorship due to threats from criminal groups and government officials. A 2019 constitutional reform increased the number of crimes for which pretrial detention is mandatory and bail is not available, including armed robbery, electoral crimes, fuel theft, and weapons possession. The Secretariat of National Defense and Secretariat of the Navy also play a role in domestic security, particularly in combating organized criminal groups. Between January and June, state authorities opened 10,458 new rape investigations. such as having witnessed the commission of a crime; in a 2018 report, the domestic think tank Mexico . Write by: . The law prohibits employers from intervening in union affairs or interfering with union activities, including through implicit or explicit reprisals against workers. OSAC membership includes 5,400+ member organizations and 18,000+ individual members from corporate, non-profit, academic, and faith-based groups of every size, all with overseas operations and personnel who are exposed to ever-evolving security issues. Most indigenous persons lived in marginalized communities, and the COVID-19 pandemic disproportionally affected these communities, according to the OHCHR. Labor inspections focused on the formal sector, leaving informal workers with no labor law protection. As of September authorities made no arrests regarding the 2020 killing of prominent indigenous and environmental rights defender Homero Gomez. Civil society organizations, however, reported that the number of labor inspections was not sufficient to secure compliance.