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Scepticism
Greets Adoption of Anti-Torture
Protocol
Diego
Cevallos
MEXICO CITY, (IPS) - The Mexican
government has added a script to its
discourse against torture by adopting
the United Nations manual for
combating this scourge, but human
rights groups are holding their
applause until they are convinced the
move is more than just another case of
words with no actions.
Torture continues to take place in
Mexico in spite of the already
innumerable government commitments
aimed at eliminating the practice,
said the spokespersons from the
Britain-based Amnesty International
and the Mexican League for the Defence
of Human Rights (LIMEDDH) consulted by
IPS.
But Mexico's Attorney General Rafael
Macedo de la Concha assures that, from
this point forward, all criminal
investigations will be free of
torture, and if abuses occur the
responsible parties will be punished.
The official stated as much after
announcing Wednesday -- amidst a major
publicity campaign -- that Mexico has
adopted the ”Manual on Effective
Investigation and Documentation of
Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or
Degrading Treatment or Punishment”,
also known as the Istanbul Protocol.
This international instrument, which
forms part of the United Nations
framework, serves as a guide for
documenting cases of torture and for
the ”assessment of persons who
allege torture and ill treatment, for
investigating cases of alleged
torture, and for reporting such
findings to the judiciary and any
other investigative body.”
The Istanbul Protocol was drafted by a
team of more than 75 experts in health
and human rights from 40 organisations
and 15 countries, and presented to the
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
on Aug. 9, 1999.
”The Vicente Fox government has said
many things against torture, but
torture continues to take place, and
with a high level of impunity,” says
María Elena Hernández, legal
director at LIMMEDH, which documents
cases of torture and provides medical
and legal services to victims.
Alfonso García, with the Mexican
office of the human rights watchdog
Amnesty International, said that
”any steps taken against torture are
welcome.” The fact that the Fox
government has adopted the Istanbul
Protocol is good news, he said in a
conversation with IPS.
Nevertheless, he added, in the Mexican
case it is not yet time to celebrate,
because ”there is a high level of
scepticism due to the lack of
results” in eliminating torture.
Fox has stated on several occasions
since he took office in late 2000 that
he abhors the human rights abuses and
torture reportedly committed by
Mexican security forces.
But ”torture continues to play a key
role in Mexico's criminal justice
system -- it is still widely used by
state agents and forms the basis of
numerous unfair convictions,” said
Amnesty International when it released
its report ”Unfair Trials: Unsafe
Convictions” in late March.
However, that text cautiously
recognises that the Mexican
authorities have an encouraging
attitude as far as fighting torture,
but that this has yet to translate
into action.
The cases of torture in Mexico
continue to be numerous, although it
is impossible to establish a reliable
figure because so few are reported,
according to both Amnesty
International and LIMEDDH.
But the number of documented cases
does continue to rise, according to
last year's report by the state-run
but independent Human Rights
Commission. Six cases were reported in
1999, nine each in 2000 and 2001, and
the total jumped to 19 in 2002.
Agents of the Attorney General's
Office were fingered as being
responsible in 18 of last year's
cases, but none were brought to
justice.
”They forced me to sign a statement
after they applied electrical shock to
the testicles, beat me with clubs and
covered my head with a plastic bag,”
Rodolfo Montiel, who was arrested on
marijuana possession charges in 1999
but released in 2001 under an order
from President Fox.
Montiel, a peasant farmer who was
active in defending forests from
indiscriminate and illegal logging in
the southern state of Guerrero, had
been sentenced to more than six years
in prison based on the statement he
signed under torture, even after his
attorneys and doctors implored the
judges to disallow the text in the
trial.
The Montiel case garnered
international fame after several human
rights groups, including Amnesty
International, called international
attention to it, declaring the farmer
and environmental activist a prisoner
of conscience.
But despite the spotlight on his
ordeal, Montiel's torturers have not
been investigated.
”There are so many other cases that
are never publicised in which torture
occurs and the victim is unable to
demand justice and punishment for
those responsible for the
mistreatment,” commented LIMEDDH
spokeswoman Hernández.
Neither she nor her counterpart at
Amnesty International can remember a
case in Mexico in which a torturer had
been arrested, sentenced and
imprisoned for the crime.
”Torture is a common practice in
Mexico. It is applied from the time of
arrest in the form of beatings and
other abuses,” says García.
”Regrettably, torture is now seen as
a normal occurrence,” he added.
But Attorney General Macedo de la
Concha says that Mexico adopted the
Istanbul Protocol this week in order
to ensure that no official tramples or
violates the human rights of
arrestees.
”We say 'no' categorically to any
conduct that deviates from total
respect for the state of law,” said
the official.
With a note of irony, Hernández
pointed out, ”If this were just
about words, Mexico would be a
paradise in terms of human rights. But
the facts show that problems persist
as far as torture and abuses.”
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