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.

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