E/CN.4/1998/38/Add.2
page 2
Introduction
1.
Following a request by the Special Rapporteur, the Government of Mexico
invited him to visit the country in 1996 within the framework of his mandate.
The visit, which took place from 7 to 16 August 1997, enabled the Special
Rapporteur to achieve his aim of collecting first-hand information from a wide
range of contacts in order better to assess the situation with regard to the
practice of torture in Mexico.
2.
During his visit the Special Rapporteur held meetings in the Federal
District with the following authorities: the Minister of the Interior, the
Minister for Foreign Affairs, Members of the Federal Judicature Council, the
Under-Secretary for Civil Protection and Social Rehabilitation of the Ministry
of the Interior, the Attorney-General of the Republic, the Government
Procurator for Military Justice, the Government Procurator of the Federal
District, the Human Rights Commissions of the Senate and the Chamber of
Deputies, the President of the National Human Rights Commission, the President
of the Federal District Human Rights Commission and authorities of the service
of forensic medicine of the High Court of Justice of the Federal District.
3.
The Special Rapporteur also met persons who themselves or whose
relatives had allegedly been torture victims, and received verbal and/or
written information from non-governmental organizations including
the following: Association of Christians for the Abolition of Torture;
“Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez” Human Rights Centre; Las Huastecas and Sierra
Oriental Centre for Human Rights; “Fray Francisco de Vitoria O.P.” Centre for
Human Rights; “Fray Bartolomé de las Casas” Human Rights Centre; San Cristóbal
de las Casas (Chiapas); Indigenous Regional Development Centre (CEDRI);
La Mexteca Regional Human Rights Centre, Oaxaca; Centre for Frontier Studies
and Promotion of Human Rights of Reynosa, Tamaulipas; Human Rights Defence and
Solidarity Commission of Chihuahua; Mexican Commission for the Defence and
Promotion of Human Rights; Committee for the Defence of Oil Workers' Union
Prisoners; Human Rights Committee of Tabasco; “Mahatma Gandhi” Human Rights
Commission of Oaxaca; Ednica; Eureka; Human Rights Clinic of the St. Mary's
University School of Law (San Antonio, Texas); Mexican League for the Defence
of Human Rights; and the Human Rights Secretariat of the Democratic Revolution
Party.
4.
From 9 to 11 August the Special Rapporteur travelled to the town of
Chilpancingo (Guerrero), where he met the State Governor, the
Secretary-General of the Government, the Government Procurator, the State
Congress Coordinator, the President of the High Court of Justice and the
President of the Commission for the Defence of Human Rights. He also met
persons who alleged that they or their relatives had been victims of torture,
and received verbal and/or written information from non-governmental
organizations including the following: La Montaña Human Rights Centre,
Tlachinollan, Diocese of Tlapa; “La voz de los sin voz” Human Rights Centre,
Coyuca de Benitez; Committee for the Defence and Support of Indian Communities
and Peoples, Costa Chica; Human Rights Institute of Guerrero, Chilpancingo;
and “José María Morelos y Pavón” Regional Centre for the Defence of Human
Rights, Chilapa. The State of Guerrero was selected for the visit because it
was the State from which the Special Rapporteur had received the largest
number of complaints in the previous few months.