ORAL STATEMENT
Mexican Commission for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights
31st regular session of the Human Rights Council
March 9th, 2016

ITEM 3 – Clustered ID on the compilation report of the Special Rapporteur on peaceful assembly and the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions.

We welcome the Joint report by the Special Rapporteurs Ms. Kiai and Mr. Heyns and shares their approach on the necessity to protect the human rights engaged in assemblies.

As a representative of civil society, the opinion of the Mexican government on the subject of extra judicial executions is particularly worrying. According to the Mexican Government, “the Mexican federal forces act in accordance with protocols attached to the highest international criteria to ensure the regulation of the use of force. These protocols are strictly respectful to human rights protection.”

However, when reviewing the statistics, it is clear that in contrast to Government’s comments, the Mexican security forces are not acting according to international guidelines. Due to the implementation of the “war on drugs” since 2006, the army has been deployed to confront drug cartels and reduce the damage of the drug trade. This has had grave consequences on human rights.

It is widely accepted that the death of more than 10 to 15 civilians per security agent who die in confrontations signifies that lethal force is being used more than necessary. In Mexico, the readiness to use lethal force is deeply troubling.

For example: The Secretariat of the Navy reported that between 2012 and 2014, in the first two years of Enrique Peña Nieto’s government, 296 civilians died and 14 marines. This is equal to the death of 21 civilians per naval officer. The indexes of the use of lethal force by the army between 2013 and 2014 are especially worrying. In Guerrero the index is 26.3, Zacatecas: 58, Veracruz: 16.3, Coahuila 22.5 and the State of Mexico 30, plus 22 that have not been counted from the Tlatlaya case. The disproportional use of force is not solely restricted to the army nor the Navy: according to official data, the Federal Police has killed more people than they have detained in “confrontations” in the current presidency.
Mr. President,

We call the members of the Council and the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions to promote international cooperation in order to equip Mexico with an internationally composed mechanism that ensures judicial authorities are able and willing to investigate extrajudicial executions.