José Antonio Guevara , Human Rights Officer at Mexico´s Ministry of Interior explains to PBI how the Mexican government will comply with this judgement.
On Tuesday 15 December 2009, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights published its first judgement condemning the Mexican State in relation to a person detained and disappeared during the Dirty War. This was the case of Rosendo Radilla Pacheco. Mr Radilla was forcibly disappeared after being detained at a military checkpoint in Atoyac de Álvarez, in the state of Guerrero, in August 1974. The Court established the Mexican State's responsibility for the violation of Rosendo Radilla’s rights to life, liberty and personal integrity.
PBI : How does the Mexican State value the fact that the Inter-American Court of Human Rights has handed down this judgement in favour of the plaintiffs?
J.A. Guevara : With the recognition of the contentious jurisdiction of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) in 1998, and the previous ratification of the American Convention on Human Rights in the 1980s, Mexico recognises that the IACHR’s judgements are final and indisputable. The Radilla judgement is therefore considered a legal obligation, with which the State must comply in its entirety. (...)
PBI : This judgement is on the case of Mr Radilla. What scope does the judgement have in regards to the many other cases of forced disappearance during the so-called Dirty War, and the recognition of the broader context of the period?
J.A. Guevara :The judgement in some ways falls short in regards to the broader context, and the effects that could have fostered the promotion of policies with greater scope. It does not demand reconciliation policies to respond to that painful period in our history, as has occurred in cases from other countries. It is a judgement which refers to just one case, and as such provides certain points that we must comply with – but it does not ask that we go beyond that to deal with other cases which, for example, the Mexican National Human Rights Commission (Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos) has knowledge of from that period.
<media 6067>Download the complete Interview with José Antonio Guevara, Human Rights Officer at Mexico´s Ministry of Interior (pdf).</media>
See also :Tita Radilla comments the IACDH judgement on her father’s case (<media 5978>interview no 14 .pdf</media>)
Background Context : The Interamerican Court of Human Rights finds Mexico guilty for the forced disappearance of Rosendo Radilla
Since 2003, PBI has accompanied Mr Radilla’s daughter, Tita Radilla, because of the threats she has suffered as a result of her work against impunity and in defence of fundamental rights.