The U.N. High
Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, is concluding a
weeklong visit to Mexico, where she expressed concern over abuse
of citizens by police and soldiers fighting organized crime
groups. The major effort against drug cartels and other criminal
organizations that began shortly after Mexican President Felipe
Calderon took office in December, 2006, has now claimed around
40,000 lives. Experts say ending official corruption and
impunity is the biggest challenge the government faces in trying
to win the war.
Xochimilco Canals In Mexico City (Photo by Clinker)
On her visit to
Mexico, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay
looked into problems including abuse of migrants and women. In
a meeting with President Calderon, Pillay mentioned allegations
against police and military forces in the war on drug
traffickers.
"I view with concern the increasing reports of human rights
violations attributed to state agents in the fight against
organized crime," Pillay said.
She said authorities should not view respect for human rights as
an obstacle, but as part of the solution in combating crime.
President Calderon responded that the worst abusers of human
rights in Mexico are the criminal gangs that have tortured,
mutilated and killed thousands of people. The drug cartels are
fighting the government and each other as they compete for
lucrative smuggling routes and drug profits.
At the inauguration of a new criminal investigation laboratory,
supported in part by funds from the United States, President
Calderon spoke of the need for reform and modernization of
police forces.
Calderon said human rights are protected when police use
evidence to prove their case rather than confessions that might
be made under duress.
Human rights groups complain that, in far too many cases, police
without proper investigative skills detain suspects and torture
them until they confess.
But President Calderon also condemned faults in the system that
have allowed criminals to escape justice.
Calderon added that as long as criminals get away with crimes
and go unpunished they will continue their illegal operations.
He said Mexico must break the vicious cycle of impunity that
allows transnational criminal organizations to operate.
To circumvent corrupt police, Calderon has used military forces
against the powerful drug cartels. But deploying soldiers while
trying to protect human rights is problematic, according to
Mexico expert George Grayson of the College of William and Mary.
"Mexico has never, never had an honest, reliable, professional
police force and this goes back to colonial times," Grayson
noted. "So Calderon had no choice, when he found areas of the
country dominated by cartels, but to use the military and the
military is trained to pursue, to capture, to kill and, in the
process, there is often collateral damage of civilians."
There have been many complaints from human rights activists
about military abuses, but many citizens in violence-wracked
areas often see soldiers as their only defense against the
well-armed criminal gangs.
Citizen attitudes about police in Mexico may be part of the
problem. Surveys have shown that Mexicans have little respect
for their police and that paying small bribes to avoid such
inconveniences as a traffic ticket is still common practice in
much of the country. Mexican police are usually paid little and
given only minimal training.
For the government to tackle such problems it will need public
support in both spiritual and material terms. George Grayson
says Mexicans in the upper and middle classes, who have been
absent from this effort, need to do more and pay more.
"The elite pay little in taxes, about 10 percent of gross
domestic product," Grayson added. "To give you an idea, Brazil
pays 33 percent of gross domestic product in terms of taxes.
Without more taxes you cannot have job creation programs, you
cannot engage in regional development, you cannot restructure
the public school system, you cannot improve health delivery
services and, as a result, 40 percent of Mexicans live in
poverty."
Part of the reason wealthy Mexicans pay so little in taxes is
the government's reliance on revenues from the state-owned oil
sector, which cover about a third of the federal budget. But
Mexico's oil reserves are in decline and President Calderon has
had limited success in opening the sector to foreign
investment. So that issue, like the drug war and the effort to
curb human rights abuses, will await the person who succeeds
Calderon after next year's presidential election.
The U.N. High
Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, is concluding a
weeklong visit to Mexico, where she expressed concern over abuse
of citizens by police and soldiers fighting organized crime
groups. The major effort against drug cartels and other criminal
organizations that began shortly after Mexican President Felipe
Calderon took office in December, 2006, has now claimed around
40,000 lives. Experts say ending official corruption and
impunity is the biggest challenge the government faces in trying
to win the war.
On her visit to
Mexico, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay
looked into problems including abuse of migrants and women. In
a meeting with President Calderon, Pillay mentioned allegations
against police and military forces in the war on drug
traffickers.
"I view with concern the increasing reports of human rights
violations attributed to state agents in the fight against
organized crime," Pillay said.
She said authorities should not view respect for human rights as
an obstacle, but as part of the solution in combating crime.
President Calderon responded that the worst abusers of human
rights in Mexico are the criminal gangs that have tortured,
mutilated and killed thousands of people. The drug cartels are
fighting the government and each other as they compete for
lucrative smuggling routes and drug profits.
At the inauguration of a new criminal investigation laboratory,
supported in part by funds from the United States, President
Calderon spoke of the need for reform and modernization of
police forces.
Calderon said human rights are protected when police use
evidence to prove their case rather than confessions that might
be made under duress.
Human rights groups complain that, in far too many cases, police
without proper investigative skills detain suspects and torture
them until they confess.
But President Calderon also condemned faults in the system that
have allowed criminals to escape justice.
Calderon added that as long as criminals get away with crimes
and go unpunished they will continue their illegal operations.
He said Mexico must break the vicious cycle of impunity that
allows transnational criminal organizations to operate.
To circumvent corrupt police, Calderon has used military forces
against the powerful drug cartels. But deploying soldiers while
trying to protect human rights is problematic, according to
Mexico expert George Grayson of the College of William and Mary.
"Mexico has never, never had an honest, reliable, professional
police force and this goes back to colonial times," Grayson
noted. "So Calderon had no choice, when he found areas of the
country dominated by cartels, but to use the military and the
military is trained to pursue, to capture, to kill and, in the
process, there is often collateral damage of civilians."
There have been many complaints from human rights activists
about military abuses, but many citizens in violence-wracked
areas often see soldiers as their only defense against the
well-armed criminal gangs.
Citizen attitudes about police in Mexico may be part of the
problem. Surveys have shown that Mexicans have little respect
for their police and that paying small bribes to avoid such
inconveniences as a traffic ticket is still common practice in
much of the country. Mexican police are usually paid little and
given only minimal training.
For the government to tackle such problems it will need public
support in both spiritual and material terms. George Grayson
says Mexicans in the upper and middle classes, who have been
absent from this effort, need to do more and pay more.
"The elite pay
little in taxes, about 10 percent of gross domestic product,"
Grayson added. "To give you an idea, Brazil pays 33 percent of
gross domestic product in terms of taxes. Without more taxes you
cannot have job creation programs, you cannot engage in regional
development, you cannot restructure the public school system,
you cannot improve health delivery services and, as a result, 40
percent of Mexicans live in poverty."
Part of the reason wealthy Mexicans pay so little in taxes is
the government's reliance on revenues from the state-owned oil
sector, which cover about a third of the federal budget. But
Mexico's oil reserves are in decline and President Calderon has
had limited success in opening the sector to foreign
investment. So that issue, like the drug war and the effort to
curb human rights abuses, will await the person who succeeds
Calderon after next year's presidential election.
(Source:
VOA
News)
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Drug War in Mexico Raises 
The U.N. High
Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, is concluding a
weeklong visit to Mexico, where she expressed concern over abuse
of citizens by police and soldiers fighting organized crime
groups. The major effort against drug cartels and other criminal
organizations that began shortly after Mexican President Felipe
Calderon took office in December, 2006, has now claimed around
40,000 lives. Experts say ending official corruption and
impunity is the biggest challenge the government faces in trying
to win the war.
