Vol. 565 No. 1
142 Mr. Crawford asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if his Department has considered reports by Amnesty International on unfair trials and unsafe convictions in Mexico; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9949/03]
Amnesty International and other human rights organisations have long expressed serious concern about widespread human rights abuses in Mexico, including "disappearances", killings, torture by police, arbitrary detentions, death threats and ill-treatment by prison and military authorities.
The latest Amnesty International report, published on 25 March 2003, focuses on the question of unsafe convictions resulting from serious violations of the right to due process, and points out that when these violations occur the criminal justice system appears incapable of providing remedies for its own defects, permitting virtually complete impunity for those in official positions responsible for abuse of due process, corruption and torture.
President Vicente Fox has fully acknowledged Mexico's human rights deficiencies and attaches a high priority to correcting them. On taking office he appointed the founder of Mexico's first ever human rights NGO, Ms Mariclaire Acosta, as Vice Minister for Human Rights and Democracy. As the recent Amnesty reports points out, the President also established human rights units in the Ministry of the Interior and in the Office of the Public Prosecutor.
These decisions led to the publication in August 2002 of the Government's first major report on human rights: "Advances and Challenges for the Federal Government in relation to Human Rights Matters". The Mexican Government has adopted an open and productive relationship on human rights matters with representatives of civil society and NGOs.
This open and constructive attitude also applies to Mexico's dialogue on human rights with the European Union and the United Nations. An office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights is being established in Mexico City to support the Government and civil society in their efforts to implement effective programmes to protect human rights.
President Fox's administration acknowledges that it faces a formidable task in seeking to reform a deeply entrenched culture of disregard for human rights within the criminal justice system, but has expressed its clear determination to try to ensure over time that the new initiatives it is taking, in conjunction with its international partners, will bring real change throughout the system.
I have little doubt, for example, that the Mexican Government will listen carefully to the recommendation in Amnesty's latest report for the reopening of all cases where there are reasonable grounds for believing that persons were convicted on the basis of coerced confessions, and that adequate measures be taken to ensure that judicial remedies are available where it is established that such abuses have occurred.
