Download the entire Chapter on Mexico : Human Right Watch 2010 World Report

The organization's 20th annual review of human rights practices around the globe, summarizes major human rights trends in more than 90 nations and territories worldwide, reflecting the extensive investigative work carried out in 2009 by Human Rights Watch staff.

Attacks on rights defenders might be seen as a perverse tribute to the human rights movement, but that doesn't mitigate the danger," Executive Human Rights Watch Director Kenneth Roth said. "Under various pretexts, abusive governments are attacking the very foundations of the human rights movement."

Mexico : Country Sumary

january 2010

President Felipe Calderon has relied heavily on the armed forces to fight drug-related violence and organized crime. While engaging in law enforcement activities, Mexico's armed forces have committed serious human rights violations, including killings, torture, rapes, and arbitrary detentions. Mexico routinely allows the military to investigate itself through a military justice system that leads to impunity for army abuses.

Mexico's criminal justice system is plagued by human rights problems, such as torture and ill-treatment by law enforcement authorities, and routinely fails to adequately prosecute crimes. Increasing violence against journalists who report on organized crime and government corruption has generated a climate of self-censorship in parts of the country.