Federal government funding for womens shelters for the year was the same as in 2020. Criminal groups became increasingly involved in the illegal timber trade in Chihuahua, which accounted for 70 percent of the wood consumed in the country. Of the 500 legislators in the Chamber of Deputies, 250 were women, 1 percent more than after the 2018 elections. The Federal Center took over registration functions nationwide on November 3 and was preparing to launch a national union registry to contain all files related to union registration and statutes, collective bargaining agreements, and union financial statements. 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). The law provides for the right of indigenous persons to elect representatives to local office according to uses and customs law (see section 6, Indigenous Peoples) rather than federal and state electoral law. There were 46 female candidates for governor; from 2012 to 2018, there cumulatively only 42. In July 2020 he was arrested in another country pursuant to a Mexican extradition request on charges that he diverted millions of dollars in public funds. The National Population Council reported that in 2020 there were 373,661 pregnancies in women younger than age 19 (30 percent above 2019), of which 8,876 were in girls ages 14 or younger. 2021 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Mexico, An official website of the United States Government, https://www.state.gov/religiousfreedomreport/, https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/International-Parental-Child-Abduction/for-providers/legal-reports-and-data/reported-cases, https://www.state.gov/trafficking-in-persons-report/, https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ilab/resources/reports/child-labor/findings/, https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ilab/reports/child-labor/list-of-goods. Access to justice was limited. The education system provided education for students with disabilities nationwide. Authorities sometimes failed to respect court orders, and arrest warrants were sometimes ignored. Approximately 23 percent of informal workers (6.8 million persons) were employed by formal businesses or organizations but paid in cash off the books to evade taxes and social security payments. INEGI found that 53 percent of women of reproductive age used modern contraception in 2018 (the most recent study). Inspectors generally were permitted to examine the informal sector only in response to complaints. The same tribunal rejected registration challenges from four other parties, including former president Felipe Calderons Free Mexico Party, which the INE argued did not produce sufficient evidence of the origin of some funding it received. 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. As of August 25, former governor of Chihuahua Cesar Duarte was awaiting an extradition decision. In June President Lopez Obrador announced that forensic scientists at the University of Innsbruck conclusively identified the remains of Jhosivani Guerrero, marking the third body identified of the 43 disappeared students. Freedom Houses 2021 Freedom on the Net report categorized the countrys internet as partly free, noting concerns regarding online manipulation tactics, potential for politicized content removals, high levels of violence against digital reporters, and investigations surrounding abusive surveillance practices. There were some complaints of illegal searches or illegal destruction of private property. As of June, 58 percent of women in federal prison and 51 percent in municipal and state prisons were in pretrial detention, while 42 percent of men in the federal and local judicial system were in pretrial detention, according to a report from the Secretariat of Security and Civilian Protection. Of the day laborers, 33 percent received no financial compensation for their work, and only 3 percent had a formal written contract. Many companies evaded taxes and social security payments by employing workers through subcontracting regimes or by submitting falsified payroll records to the Mexican Social Security Institute. Citizens have access to an independent judiciary in civil matters to seek civil remedies for human rights abuses. The increase in domestic violence cases that began during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic continued. The reforms establish a four-year timeline for implementation designed to end May 1, 2023, but the government established an accelerated timeline to complete implementation by May 2022 and remained on track to meet that goal. Workers, the employer, or an interested third party may request the CAB or court rule on the legality of the strike, which may find the strike is nonexistent and therefore illegal. After denying they existed, in 2019 the Prosecutor Generals Office provided evidence of Pegasus licensing contracts in 2016 and 2017. In July Public Safety Secretary Rosa Isela Rodriguez revealed that the Felipe Calderon and Enrique Pena Nieto administrations signed 31 contracts for $61 million to buy Pegasus spy software. Investigations, prosecutions, and convictions for the crime of forced disappearance were rare. Forced internal displacement disproportionally affected indigenous communities. According to the Mexican Social Security Institute, as a result of the law 2.7 million workers of the 4.6 million subcontractors moved from formal subcontracting status to a formal direct employment status. Workers had to buy food and other items at the company store at high markups, at times leaving them with no money at the end of the harvest after settling debts. The previous platform lacked interconnectivity between states and failed to connect family members effectively to the remains of their missing relatives. He fled to Israel, and the government requested that the Israeli government issue an arrest warrant and extradite him. In June another priest died in a cartel crossfire on the Durango-Zacatecas border. The Quintana Roo prosecutor general confirmed police officers used disproportionate force during the arrest. As of August 23, Marin was awaiting trial. There was a lack of comprehensive data on internally displaced persons (IDPs). An additional February reform mandated pretrial detention for femicides, sexual violence against minors, forced disappearances, and corruption. . Civil society groups reported families living in inhuman conditions, with inadequate and cramped housing, no access to clean water or bathrooms, insufficient food, and without medical care. Penalties ranged from monetary fines to the cancellation of candidacies. In August the federal government signed a public-private partnership agreement with the Teleton Institute for it to provide rehabilitation services to 20,000 pension-receiving children. In March attackers shot and killed Father Gumersindo Cortes in Guanajuato. The order directed the Attorney General's Office to reopen the investigation into the 2014 killings of 22 civilians by members of the military in Tlatlaya, Mexico State. The constitution prohibits discrimination based on ethnicity, and a federal law prohibits all forms of discrimination. It is also a criminal offense in all states. Authorities held some detainees under house arrest. He was a member of a search collective and the state search commission. The UN Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) documented cases in the states of Mexico and Chiapas in which detainees remained in pretrial detention for more than 12 years. In July the army provided reparations to two of the three families of persons killed in July 2020 by soldiers in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, during an encounter with suspected cartel members. The U.S. government has limited ability to provide . The law also provides for the rights of appeal and of bail in most categories of crimes. Higher Risk Travel. Digital media journalists covering stories such as crime, corruption, and human rights violations experienced physical violence and online abuse. Nonetheless, NGOs and media reported on sexual exploitation of minors, as well as child sex tourism in resort towns and northern border areas. The report singled out Hidalgo, Nayarit, Puebla, Sinaloa, Sonora, and Tamaulipas as the states with the worst prison conditions. Womens rights activists supported the law as critical to combat the increasingly prevalent problem of online sexual harassment. Posted at 01:41h . 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 . 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. Penalties for law violations regarding hours and minimum wage were commensurate with those for other similar laws but were rarely enforced. There were reports of security forces using excessive force against demonstrators. This limited medias ability to investigate and report, since many of the reporters who were killed covered crime, corruption, and local politics. Various news outlets showed a video of two National Migration Institute agents with riot gear and shields grabbing one migrant, knocking him to the ground, and kicking him. The armed forces operated a military justice system to hold human rights abusers accountable. In July 2020 authorities extradited Lozoya, former director of PEMEX, the state-owned petroleum company, from Spain. Nationwide the CNB reported the exhumation of the remains of at least 3,025 persons in 1,749 clandestine graves between December 1, 2018, and June 30. Federal law prohibits torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, as well as the admission of confessions obtained through illicit means as evidence in court. Calls included reports of relationship aggression, sexual assault, sexual harassment, rape, and intrafamily violence. Three states have state-level IDP laws, but the country does not have a federal internal displacement law, which created challenges in resource allocation and interagency governmental coordination. Not all public defenders were qualified, however, and often the state public defender system was understaffed. Twelve states have laws restricting public demonstrations. Citizens hoping to obtain temporary, legal employment in the United States and other countries frequently paid recruiters hundreds or thousands of dollars in prohibitive fees to secure jobs, and many prospective workers were promised jobs that did not exist. Their abduction followed the killings of two Yaqui activists and leaders: Thomas Rojo in May and Luis Urbano in June. osac mexico 2020 crime and safety report osac mexico 2020 crime and safety report. On April 24, congress approved a reform to the labor law aimed at banning subcontracting of personnel for core or main economic activities in the public and private sectors. 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. According to the victims mother, police detained and interrogated him without reasonable suspicion or probable cause. As a result the number of pretrial detainees increased 25 percent since 2018, and pretrial detainees comprised 40 percent of all prisoners, according to government figures. The reforms also establish an expedited and more transparent judicial process for unions to obtain collective bargaining rights. See the Department of States Annual Report on International Parental Child Abduction at https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/International-Parental-Child-Abduction/for-providers/legal-reports-and-data/reported-cases. In July 2020 the CNB launched a public version of the National Registry of Disappeared and Missing Persons. There were reports the government did not always investigate and punish those complicit in abuses against LGBTQI+ persons, especially outside Mexico City. As of August 27, the suspects were awaiting trial. A cartel war has transformed once-tranquil Guanajuato into one of Mexico's deadliest states. Note: The safety and security equipment and services sector encompasses several different segments, including some defense products. Of the 32 states, 24 criminalize sexual harassment, and all states have provisions for punishment when the perpetrator is in a position of power. On October 1, a judge sentenced Fidel Figueroa, mayor of Zacualpan, state of Mexico, to 236 years in prison for murder. A 2019 constitutional amendment grants the president the authority to use the armed forces to protect internal and national security through 2024. As of October the special unit had reissued arrest warrants for 11 of the 78 released detainees, including municipal police officers, but made no arrests. There were no reports of political prisoners or detainees. Black migrants reported migration authorities detained Black migrants for longer periods than other migrants. Horrio de atendimento: Segunda - Sexta das 17h s 21h. Responsibility for registration of unions and collective bargaining agreements, including amendments to their statutes, shifted to the Federal Conciliation and Labor Registration Center in November 2020 for the eight phase-one states. Government Human Rights Bodies: The CNDH is a semiautonomous federal agency created by the government and funded by the legislature to monitor and act on human rights abuses. On August 31, the government suspended the two agents for inappropriate conduct. Failure to register births could result in the denial of public services such as education or health care. On January 11, the government ended migratory detention for children. Arbitrary Arrest: Allegations of arbitrary detentions persisted throughout the year. Many workers were compelled into forced labor through debt bondage, threats of violence, and nonpayment of wages by recruiters and employers. 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. In January 2020, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights issued a report on Guatemala, referring . Children performed dangerous tasks in agriculture in the production of beans, chili peppers, coffee, cucumbers, eggplants, melons, onions, tomatoes, and tobacco. 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. OSAC Council. As of September authorities made no arrests regarding the 2020 killing of prominent indigenous and environmental rights defender Homero Gomez. In October 2020 the Electoral Tribunal granted registration to three new political parties: Solidary Encounter Party, Progressive Social Networks, and Social Force for Mexico. | OSAC is a partnership . The web site offers its visitors the latest in safety and security-related information, public announcements, warden messages, travel advisories, significant anniversary dates, terrorist groups profiles, country crime and safety reports, special topic reports, foreign press reports, and much more. Underage children in urban areas earned money by begging, washing windshields, selling small items, or performing in public places. Occupational Safety and Health: The law requires employers to observe occupational safety and health regulations, issued jointly by the STPS and Institute for Social Security. In February authorities arrested 12 state police officers in Camargo, Tamaulipas, on homicide charges in connection with the massacre and burning of the bodies of three smugglers and 16 Guatemalan migrants en route to the United States. State search collectives reported being victims, at times fatal, of attacks, threats, and other acts of harassment. All OSAC products and services are always completely free of charge. Twitter users posted threats against journalists. Any corporate, non-profit, academic, faith-based or other U.S.-incorporated organization of any size with operations outside the United States may apply to join. On August 3, Ravelo died from his injuries. The new vote took place on August 17-18, and a majority of workers rejected the collective bargaining agreement. Impunity and extremely low rates of prosecution remained a problem for all crimes, including human rights abuses and corruption. Since 2019 more than 60 women accused Roemer of sexual abuse, assault, and rape. 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. There were 600 federal labor inspectors to cover the entire country; 60 percent of state level labor authorities had fewer than 10 inspectors. Nonetheless, Quevedo Cruz remained in detention as of September 11. From 2013 through . Federal law criminalizes spousal abuse. 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. Authorities arrested four police officers and charged them with femicide (killing a woman because of her gender). From 1979 to 2020 only eight women had become governors. Lozoya accused high-level politicians representing multiple parties of complicity in his corrupt acts and was acting as a states witness in trials against them. In July 2020 legislators approved a law making all judicial sentences public. There were 50 hate-crime homicides and four forced disappearances committed against the LGBTQI+ community in the first eight months, according to the National Observatory of Crimes Against LGBTQI persons. Spousal rape is criminalized in 26 of the 32 states. The government did not effectively enforce the law. OSAC.GOV: Registered users can receive 100+ monthly security notices, including daily news highlights, upcoming events, analytical reports, embassy/consulate alerts, and city-specific crime and safety reports. Birth Registration: Children derive citizenship both by birth within the countrys territory and from their parents. The Catholic Multimedia Center reported that criminal groups harassed priests and other religious leaders in some parts of the country and subjected them to extortion, death threats, and intimidation. Day laborers and their children were the primary victims of forced and child labor in the agricultural sector, particularly in the production of chili peppers and tomatoes. It was created in 2019 to bring together national and international forensic experts to help identify 37,000 unidentified remains held in government facilities, coordinate implementation of the general law on forced disappearances, and allocate resources to state search commissions. Google received more removal requests from government agents in 2020 than in any other year except 2014. Voting centers for federal elections were generally accessible for persons with disabilities, and ballots were available with a braille overlay for federal elections in Mexico City, but these services were inconsistently available for local elections elsewhere in the country. Informal workers lacked access to social protection mechanisms such as health care and retirement benefits. The 27,751 calls to the hotline in May were the most since the creation of the hotline. On June 19, a dispute between factions of the Gulf cartel killed 15 persons in the state of Tamaulipas. Mexico is one of Latin America's most important security markets due to its size, leading industries, development, and total demand. Media monopolies, especially in small markets, at times constrained freedom of expression. In March the government amended federal labor law to define the minimum wage as the lowest cash amount a worker receives for services rendered during a workday and stipulated it should never be below the inflation rate. The government continued to pursue the extradition of Tomas Zeron from Israel. The 911 hotline received 139,554 calls reporting incidents of violence against women from January to June, an increase of 6 percent over the same months in 2020. NGOs reported authorities had not implemented programs for community integration. The procedure known in Spanish as arraigo (a constitutionally permitted form of pretrial detention employed during the investigative phase of a criminal case before probable cause is fully established) allows, with a judges approval, for certain suspects to be detained prior to filing formal charges.