The increase in domestic violence cases that began during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic continued. osac mexico 2020 crime and safety report - ckinfini.com Some public officials blocked critical journalists and media from following their social media accounts. 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. As of September 13, three municipal police officers from Ixtlahuacan de los Membrillos, Jalisco, remained in pretrial detention for the killing of Giovanni Lopez. Pretrial Detention: Lengthy pretrial detention was a problem, and authorities did not always promptly release those detained unlawfully. On August 3, Ravelo died from his injuries. How safe is it to travel to Mexico? - Wise As of September workers had reviewed and voted on 1,790 collective bargaining agreements, less than 1 percent of the total number of agreements. 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 . Mexican crime data is available from police investigations (SESNSP) and also, in the case of homicides, from death certificates (INEGI). A forensic doctor at the Yucatan Prosecutor Generals Office confirmed that he had suffered sexual abuse. In the first six months of the year, Article 19 registered 362 attacks against journalists and accused public officials of committing 134 of them. Following the August 2020 killing of Pablo Morrugares, El Diario de Iguala newspaper published a note blaming organized crime and Governor Hector Astudillo Flores administration for violence against journalists and impunity. Years, due osac mexico 2019 crime and safety report Crime > report /a > Crime in Puebla /a > available Canada. See state summaries and advisory levels below for information on your specific travel destination. El Crimen | Mexico Crime Rates, Most Dangerous States, Cartel Violence Victims relatives and civil society continued to criticize handling of the original investigation by the Attorney Generals Office, noting there had been no convictions related to the disappearances of the 43 students. World Report 2022: Mexico | Human Rights Watch According to the victims mother, police detained and interrogated him without reasonable suspicion or probable cause. Indigenous persons in isolated regions reported incidents of forced labor in which cartel members forced them to perform illicit activities or face death. osac mexico 2020 crime and safety report - stmatthewsbc.org Arbitrary Deprivation of Life and Other Unlawful or Politically Motivated Killings, c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Arrest Procedures and Treatment of Detainees, f. Arbitrary or Unlawful Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or Correspondence, a. In rural areas in 2019, the cause of most maternal deaths was obstetric hemorrhage. Reforms to the Prosecutor Generals Office split the Office for Combating Violence Against Women and the Trafficking in Persons offices in an effort to elevate these issues by giving each its own special prosecutor general. The OSAC information exchange mechanism also . In May in Chicoloapan, state of Mexico, municipal police beat and detained supporters of feminist groups as they led a protest against gender-based violence and political parties. 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. 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. 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. This guide covers all you need to know about the safety and security considerations for a trip to Mexico including Covid and pandemic related concerns, road safety, crime and more. Google received more removal requests from government agents in 2020 than in any other year except 2014. osac mexico 2020 crime and safety report - globeducar.org Between January and June, state authorities opened 129,020 new domestic violence investigations. The report singled out Hidalgo, Nayarit, Puebla, Sinaloa, Sonora, and Tamaulipas as the states with the worst prison conditions. Osac 2013 Crime and Safety Report: Merida 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. Federal labor law requires a minimum of 20 workers to form a union. As a result the new Chamber of Deputies had 37 indigenous deputies, six Afro-Mexican deputies, four LGBTQI+ deputies (including two transgender deputies), and eight deputies with disabilities. The State Department's Mexico Crime and Safety Report for Merida (OSAC) details that there is very little to no narco-related crime threat in Merida. Federal law prohibits discrimination against persons with physical, sensory, intellectual, and mental disabilities. INEGI found that 53 percent of women of reproductive age used modern contraception in 2018 (the most recent study). In 2020 the STPS Federal Labor Inspectorate conducted almost 30,000 labor inspections nationwide but reported finding only one case of child labor. TYT.-. Diplomatic Security Reports and Publications - United States Department Sexual Harassment: Federal law prohibits sexual harassment and provides for fines from 250 to 5,000 times the minimum daily wage, but the law was not effectively enforced. During the first six months of 2021 the INEGI reported a total 16,972 (provisional) and the SESNSP reported 16,950 murders. The government did not effectively enforce the law. Mexico has relied heavily on the military to control drugs and fight organized crime, leading to widespread human rights violations. As of July the CNB reported that there were 89,572 missing or disappeared persons in the country. On May 18, an exhibit in Mexico City on Israeli innovation was vandalized with anti-Semitic and anti-Israel messages. In 2016 all civilian and military courts officially transitioned from an inquisitorial legal system based primarily upon judicial review of written documents to an accusatorial trial system reliant upon oral testimony presented in open court. Libel/Slander Laws: There are no federal criminal laws against defamation, libel, or slander; however, eight states have criminal laws on these acts. State human rights commissions investigate state and municipal police forces and can issue similar recommendations. Municipal police arrested eight women and one man, later releasing all detainees. President Lopez Obrador condemned the threats, and the Interior Secretariat confirmed that authorities would grant Uresti protection measures. 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. Organized criminal groups were implicated in numerous killings, acting with impunity and at times in collusion with corrupt federal, state, local, and security officials. Reproductive Rights: There were no confirmed reports of coerced abortion or involuntary sterilization on the part of government authorities. In November 2020 a judge suspended five officials from the Mexico City Prosecutor Generals Office for failing to search for Fatima within 72 hours after she went missing. Authorities declared 10 political parties eligible to participate in the midterm elections. Defendants have the right to a presumption of innocence and to a fair and public trial without undue delay. Federal and state labor inspectorates conducted nearly 30,000 labor inspections in formally registered businesses in 2020 but did not conduct inspections in the informal sector. NGOs alleged that provisions in laws threatened the privacy of internet users by forcing telecommunication companies to retain data for two years, providing real-time geolocation data to police, and allowing authorities to obtain metadata from private communications companies without a court order. Refworld | Mexico: Criminality, including organized crime; state Rather than receiving daily wages once a week, as mandated by law, day laborers had to meet certain harvest quotas to receive the promised wage. Governmental Posture Towards International and Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Abuses of Human Rights, Section 6. Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of the MORENA party coalition won the presidential election in generally free and fair multiparty elections in 2018. According to labor rights NGOs, employers in all sectors sometimes used the illegal hours bank approach requiring long hours when the workload is heavy and cutting down hours when it is light to avoid compensating workers for overtime. Across the criminal justice system, many actors lacked the necessary training and capacity to carry out their duties fairly and consistently in line with the principle of equal justice. Unprecedented numbers of migrants arriving at the countrys southern border and requesting refugee status stretched the refugee agencys capacity to process requests. Between August 23 and August 27, hundreds of migrants from Haiti, Cuba, and Central America protested in front of the National Migration Institute offices in Tapachula, Chiapas, to demand expedited refugee proceedings that would allow them to move freely throughout the country. In June another priest died in a cartel crossfire on the Durango-Zacatecas border. 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. The government generally exempted accompanying adults from detention to preserve family unity. In June the government amended the General Law on Womens Access to a Life Free of Violence to include media and digital violence as a form of violence against women. In addition to shelters, womens justice centers provided services including legal, psychological, and protective; however, the number of cases far surpassed institutional capacity. Call this number to report violent crime, arrest, or grave . The law provides for eight paid public holidays and one week of paid annual leave after completing one year of work. Violence and Harassment: Journalists were killed or subjected to physical and cyberattacks, harassment, and intimidation (especially by state agents and transnational criminal organizations) in response to their reporting. The CABs continued failures to administer and oversee procedures related to union activity impartially and transparently, such as union elections, registrations, and strikes, undermined worker efforts to exercise their rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining. As of August there were no developments in the case regarding the abduction and killing of seven-year-old Fatima Aldrighetti Anton. OSAC 2021-N-0016, Standard for Initial Response at Scenes by Law Enforcement (added September 7, 2021 and sent to ASB for further development and publication). Child, Early, and Forced Marriage: The legal minimum marriage age is 18. osac mexico 2019 crime and safety report - Toyology In addition to the outstanding Zeron arrest warrant, the Special Unit for the Investigation and Litigation of the Ayotzinapa case issued 12 warrants and made 10 arrests for investigative irregularities, such as torture and obstruction of justice. Of all children, 7.1 percent, or two million, were younger than the minimum age of work or worked under conditions that violated federal labor law, such as performing hazardous work. In August 2020 attackers fired multiple shots at the building housing the printing facilities of El Diario de Iguala. Nevertheless, women nationwide faced obstacles to accessing emergency services due to health providers personal objections to emergency contraception or misunderstanding of their legal obligations to provide services. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor, c. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment, d. Discrimination with Respect to Employment and Occupation. The governments National Protection Mechanism to Protect Journalists and Human Rights Defenders provided panic buttons, bodyguards, and temporary relocation to journalists and human rights defenders. Children also produced garments, leather goods, and illicit crops such as opium poppies; engaged in illicit activities such as the production and trafficking of drugs; and experienced sexual exploitation, often as a result of human trafficking. The law prohibits employers from intervening in union affairs or interfering with union activities, including through implicit or explicit reprisals against workers. Federal and state databases were incomplete and had data-crossing problems; forensic systems were highly fragmented between the local, state, and federal levels; and the sheer volume of unsolved cases was far greater than the forensic systems were capable of handling. Conditions in prisons and detention centers were often harsh and life threatening. As of August, 25 of 32 states had specialized prosecutors offices for investigating torture, or specialized investigative units within the state attorney generals office as called for by law. Observers from grassroots labor rights groups, international NGOs, and multinational apparel brands reported that employers in export-oriented supply chains increasingly used hiring methods that lessened job security. The STPS certification of the new election set November 3 as the date for termination of the existing agreement, thus establishing that representation rights would be determined under the new labor reform rules and institutions. Some areas of Mexico have increased risk of crime and kidnapping. Members of the Mayan community in Campeche reported the National Tourism Board pressured them to cease protesting and agree to leave their lands. The law requires children younger than 18 to complete compulsory basic education and to have a medical certificate to work. Violence by organized criminal groups often prompted the incidents, which took place in 10 states and displaced 11,560 persons as of August. The Quintana Roo prosecutor general confirmed police officers used disproportionate force during the arrest. In July 2020 legislators approved a law making all judicial sentences public. All states have their own human rights commissions. 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. Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) | 11,629 followers on LinkedIn. Last Update: Reissued with updates to health information. The government continued implementing the labor reforms in a phased manner, with the reform coming online in eight states in November 2020, and phase two started on November 3 with 13 states, and phase three to be concluded on May 1, 2022, for the remaining states. osac mexico 2020 crime and safety report 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. Sources indicate that organized criminal organizations have been . Several outbreaks of COVID-19 resulted in multiple deaths. Disappearances remained a persistent problem throughout the country, especially in areas with high levels of cartel or gang-related violence. From 2013 through . The government, in conjunction with international organizations, made efforts to promote the safe, voluntary return, resettlement, or local integration of IDPs.