osac crime and safety report: mexico

The law prohibits employers from intervening in union affairs or interfering with union activities, including through implicit or explicit reprisals against workers. Minors were recruited or forced by cartels to traffic persons, drugs, or other goods across the border with the United States. osac mexico 2020 crime and safety report. Underage children in urban areas earned money by begging, washing windshields, selling small items, or performing in public places. The reforms provide workers with the right to freely elect union representatives and approve or reject collective bargaining agreements through a secret ballot process before they are registered. Due to low internet penetration and television ownership in indigenous communities, distance learning was often inaccessible. He fled to Israel, and the government requested that the Israeli government issue an arrest warrant and extradite him. There were several reports that government entities or their agents committed arbitrary or unlawful killings, often with impunity. There were 46 female candidates for governor; from 2012 to 2018, there cumulatively only 42. 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. Do not travel to the Colombian border area in the Loreto Region because of crime, or the area in central Peru known as the Valley of the Rivers Apurimac, Ene, and Mantaro (VRAEM) because of crime and terrorism. In addition to criminal libel and defamation laws, civil law defines moral damage as similar to defamation concerning harm to a persons feelings, affections, beliefs, dignity, honor, reputation, and privacy, according to the NGO Committee to Protect Journalists. On August 8, self-proclaimed members of Cartel Jalisco New Generation released a video showing a group of armed men threatening to kill journalist Azucena Uresti for reporting on self-defense groups fighting the cartel in Michoacan. Despite a 2017 injunction issued by a state district judge to prevent further grave abuses at the institution, the CNDH reported state authorities failed to supervise the conditions at Ciudad de los Ninos. The law establishes a requirement to observe parity in the designation of public officials at every level (federal, state, local) in all three branches of government. Indeed, the Yucatan is one of the only states in Mexico with no transnational criminal organization or terrorist group. The CNDH sends a request to the authority asking for evidence of its compliance and includes this follow-up information in its annual report. The elections were generally free and fair. On October 1, a judge sentenced Fidel Figueroa, mayor of Zacualpan, state of Mexico, to 236 years in prison for murder. Indigenous persons in isolated regions reported incidents of forced labor in which cartel members forced them to perform illicit activities or face death. Five states have laws that restrict the publishing of political caricatures or memes. These laws were seldom applied. Discrimination in employment or occupation occurred against women, indigenous groups, persons with disabilities, LGBTQI+ individuals, and migrant workers. For information regarding the security environment in other areas of Mexico, please reference the OSAC Crime and Safety Reports from the following Consular Districts: Tijuana, Nogales, Hermosillo, Ciudad Juarez, Nuevo Laredo, Matamoros, Monterrey, Guadalajara, and Merida. Crime Rating: Critical Crime Threats Crime varies widely. In July 2020 the CNB launched a public version of the National Registry of Disappeared and Missing Persons. The state commissions are funded by state legislatures and are semiautonomous. Their abduction followed the killings of two Yaqui activists and leaders: Thomas Rojo in May and Luis Urbano in June. The constitution prohibits discrimination based on ethnicity, and a federal law prohibits all forms of discrimination. Following the introduction of the accusatorial justice system, however, there was a significant reduction in the number of persons detained in this manner, falling from more than 1,900 in 2011 to 21 in 2018. High levels of impunity, including for killings or attacks on journalists, resulted in self-censorship and reduced freedom of expression and the press. OSAC Council. Also in June a federal judge sentenced the former mayor of Chinipas, Chihuahua, Hugo Amed Schultz Alcaraz, to eight years in prison for his role in the 2017 murder of Miroslava Breach, a prominent La Jornada newspaper correspondent who reported on organized crime and corruption. This requirement was not followed in all cases, particularly in remote areas of the country. The report noted 40 state prisons experienced overcrowding. Safe Catch Tuna Net Worth 2020, Tesla Battery Repair Cost, Tjibaou Cultural Centre, Stephen Curry Son Disability, Eric Jefferson Doubling Down With The Derricos, Patiala House Court Case Status By Name . This mass displacement elevated the groups risk of malnutrition and health maladies. Conditions in prisons and detention centers were often harsh and life threatening. 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. Informal workers were in every sector of the economy, with agriculture as the sector with the greatest number of informal workers. Forced internal displacement disproportionally affected indigenous communities. In June the government amended the General Law on Womens Access to a Life Free of Violence to include media and digital violence as a form of violence against women. There is no single independent oversight mechanism to review police actions, but many federal and state security and justice sector institutions have internal affairs units providing internal supervision and promoting best practices for transparency and accountability. Veracruz. In March attackers shot and killed Father Gumersindo Cortes in Guanajuato. The army and the navy have human rights units to create protocols and training. Impunity for torture was prevalent among the security forces. During the electoral process the INE received 147 complaints of gender-based political violence, a significant increase from the 47 complaints it received during the 2017-2018 electoral process. In June authorities sentenced Quintana Roo police officer Miguel Mora Olvera to five years in prison for his role in torturing Cacho. In January 2020, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights issued a report on Guatemala, referring . To some of the abusers were reported to be male classmates, but there were also reports sexual! Criminal cases related to such violations were rarely carried out. Calls included reports of relationship aggression, sexual assault, sexual harassment, rape, and intrafamily violence. Although the law requires entities recruiting for overseas employment to register with the STPS, there is no enforcement mechanism, and only a handful of recruiters complied. with disabilities attended school at a lower rate than those without disabilities. Federal and state labor inspectorates conducted nearly 30,000 labor inspections in formally registered businesses in 2020 but did not conduct inspections in the informal sector. VFelbabBrown. Federal government funding for womens shelters for the year was the same as in 2020. in alan wong married. Tweets disseminated their identities and their media outlets and also made veiled threats. The law prohibits compulsory overtime. 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. These included low wages, contentious labor management, long work hours, unjustified dismissals, a lack of social security benefits, unsafe workplaces, and no freedom of association. Mexico is one of Latin America's most important security markets due to its size, leading industries, development, and total demand. This guide covers all you need to know about the safety and security considerations for a trip to Mexico including Covid and pandemic related concerns, road safety, crime and more. Use this as a starting point to plan your trip to Mexico and you can be sure you'll have a safe and enjoyable time. Administration: Authorities did not always conduct investigations into credible allegations of mistreatment. According to the Center for Economic Research and Teaching, most criminal suspects did not receive representation until after their first custody hearing, thus making individuals vulnerable to coercion to sign false statements prior to appearing before a judge. In August Baja California and Yucatan passed laws banning LGBTQI+ conversion therapy. The governments failure to enforce labor laws left workers with little recourse for violations of freedom of association, poor working conditions, and other labor provisions in states that had not yet implemented the new labor justice model. Indigenous persons generally had limited access to health care and education services. The government continued its efforts to strengthen freedom of association protections, promote union democracy, and improve the ability of workers to bargain collectively. 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 . Some public officials blocked critical journalists and media from following their social media accounts. The National Shelter Network reported that the network assisted 12,000 women and children between January and August. 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. The government made efforts to prevent, investigate, and punish acts of disappearance involving government agents. osac crime and safety reports osac crime and safety reports. The rate of aggression against political figures during the election cycle was on par with the 2018 election, one of the most violent political periods in recent history. The Interior Secretariat reaffirmed its commitment to protect refugee applicants even as the country experienced an unprecedented number of applicants. In 2019 the Federal Police was disbanded, and in May 2020 all remaining assets and personnel transferred to the National Guard. 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. A report from the Black Alliance for Just Immigration found black migrants faced widespread racial discrimination from individuals and authorities, particularly in accessing employment and services. In 2019 the Prosecutor Generals Office opened a corruption investigation against Lozoya for receiving up to $10 million in bribes from the Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht. Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and family members of disappeared persons alleged the prosecutors undercounted the actual number of cases. Between 2017 and August the Office of the Special Prosecutor for Crimes against Journalists, a unit in the Prosecutor Generals Office, charged 136 public servants for crimes against journalists. 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. Political Parties and Political Participation: For the electoral process, the National Electoral Institute (INE) established the Three Out of Three Against Violence initiative, which required candidates to declare any history of domestic violence, sexual offenses, or failure to pay alimony. In July 2020 the Supreme Court agreed to analyze the case but as of August 23 had not issued a ruling. Civil society groups claimed police routinely subjected LGBTQI+ persons to mistreatment while in custody. Children constituted 19 percent of irregular migrant flows identified by authorities; 30 percent of them were unaccompanied. Some prisons were undersubscribed, while others were overcrowded. famous las vegas male singers. The CNDH headquarters are located in Mexico City. 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. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy, 2021 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, Section 1. From 1979 to 2020 only eight women had become governors. President Lopez Obrador condemned the threats, and the Interior Secretariat confirmed that authorities would grant Uresti protection measures. The U.S. government has limited ability to provide . In July the secretary of the navy publicly apologized to families of the victims, marking the first time the armed forces apologized for committing forced disappearances. There is no real history of political unrest in the state. osac crime and safety report: mexico. As of October the accused were in a military prison awaiting trial. Ecuador 2019 Crime & Safety Report: Guayaquil The current U.S. Department of State Travel Advisory at the date of this report's publication assesses Ecuador at Level 1, indicating travelers should exercise normal precautions. 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. Exercise increased caution in the Dominican Republic due to crime.. Country Summary: Violent crime, including armed robbery, homicide and sexual assault is a concern throughout the Dominican Republic.The development of a professional tourist police corps, institution of a 911 system in many parts of the country, and a concentration of . 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. The STPS is responsible for carrying out child labor inspections and refers cases of child labor to the Prosecutor Generals Office for sanctions. Civil society and families of the disappeared stated the governments actions to prevent and respond to disappearances were largely inadequate to address the scale of the problem. It may exercise its power to call before the Senate government authorities who refuse to accept or enforce its recommendations. The 45,000-person Jewish community experienced low levels of anti-Semitism. Several indigenous communities brought legal actions to oppose the construction, many of which were dismissed or denied. Some detainees complained of a lack of access to family members and to counsel after police held persons incommunicado for several days and made arrests arbitrarily without a warrant. The Yucatan Peninsula Campeche, Quintana Roo, and Yucatan states has not suffered the same level of escalating violence seen in other parts of Mexico; however, there is some narco-related violence that affects Cancun (usually not in the . joseph testa obituary, ivo graham ludo graham relationship, family picture poses for 5 adults, rsl care enterprise agreement 2015, . According to several NGOs and unions, many workers faced violence and intimidation perpetrated by protection union leaders and employers supporting them, as well as other workers, union leaders, and vigilantes hired by a company to suppress opposition to an existing union in bargaining-rights elections. As of August 27, the suspects were awaiting trial. Federal law provides citizens the ability to choose their government through free and fair periodic elections held by secret ballot and based on universal and equal suffrage. Abuses of time limits on pretrial detention were endemic in state judicial systems. INEGI reported that 2 percent of the population (2.5 million) self-identified as Afro-Mexican. As of October the Special Unit for the Investigation and Litigation of the Ayotzinapa case had arrested more than 80 suspects, including army captain Jose Martinez Crespo, an Iguala municipal police officer, and the Iguala municipal police chief. Not all public defenders were qualified, however, and often the state public defender system was understaffed. Here then is a recap of key crime and anti-crime events and developments in Mexico in 2020, and of the bleak prospects for 2021. In 2019 the federal government introduced pensions for persons with disabilities in a state of poverty. On February 19, a constitutional reform eliminated presidential immunity for corruption and other crimes. Most indigenous persons lived in marginalized communities, and the COVID-19 pandemic disproportionally affected these communities, according to the OHCHR. A forensic doctor at the Yucatan Prosecutor Generals Office confirmed that he had suffered sexual abuse. The order specifically called for an investigation into the role of the chain of command and the military order to "take down criminals.". On August 30, the Extraordinary Mechanism for Forensic Identification became fully operational. By law attorneys are required to meet professional qualifications to represent a defendant. In 2016, the most recent data available, INEGI reported that 44 percent of persons working in agriculture were day laborers. For example, the office issued three arrest warrants in the case of the August 2020 killing of Juan Nelcio Espinosa, an independent journalist in Piedras Negras, Coahuila, who died while in police custody. According to the National Womens Institute, the federal institution charged with directing national policy on equal opportunity for men and women, sexual harassment in the workplace was a significant problem. Ramos had been searching for her missing husband for the previous seven months as a member of two search collectives. With no access to schools or child care, many workers took their children to work in the fields. The INE sanctioned 107 persons for gender-based political violence. Of the 500 legislators in the Chamber of Deputies, 250 were women, 1 percent more than after the 2018 elections. Authorities accused the suspects of smuggling 20 to 80 migrants per day through Baja California into the United States for more than a decade. In July 2020 legislators approved a law making all judicial sentences public. This represented an increase of 11 percent of children from the 2017 INEGI survey. In May 2020 a constitutional amendment established the disability pension as a constitutional right, prioritizing children, indigenous, and Afro-Mexican persons with disabilities younger than age 64 who lived in poverty. The government deployed hundreds of security forces to contain the caravan. The Prosecutor Generals Office owned a previous genetics database, which consisted of 63,000 profiles, and was responsible for the new database. Civil society organizations alleged that workers were prohibited from leaving by threats of violence or by nonpayment of wages. State preventive police report to state governors, while municipal police report to mayors. In 2019 a Mexico City court ordered academic Sergio Aguayo, a columnist of the daily newspaper Reforma, to pay a fine of 10 million pesos ($530,000) in moral damages to former Coahuila governor Humberto Moreira. 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. 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. The government approved the National Work and Employment Program for People with Disabilities 2021-2024, aimed at strengthening labor inclusion of persons with disabilities and supporting the employment of persons with disabilities in decent work. Federal authorities supported access to contraceptive methods, but states efforts varied widely. Federal labor law requires a minimum of 20 workers to form a union. The constitution allows any person to arrest another if the crime is committed in his or her presence. The State Department's Mexico Crime and Safety Report for Merida (OSAC) details that there is very little to no narco-related crime threat in Merida. NGOs stated authorities failed to investigate torture allegations adequately. Labor inspections focused on the formal sector, leaving informal workers with no labor law protection. There were reports of security forces using excessive force against demonstrators. The law provides for freedom of expression, including for members of the press and other media, and the government generally respected this right. Google received more removal requests from government agents in 2020 than in any other year except 2014. Last Update: Reissued with updates to health information. The Federal Center also carries out mandatory pre-judicial conciliations at the federal level, with local conciliation centers carrying out the same function at the state level. Freedom to Participate in the Political Process, Section 4. During the first six months of 2021 the INEGI reported a total 16,972 (provisional) and the SESNSP reported 16,950 murders. The NGO also reported the existence of multiple unregistered private institutions without licenses operating as orphanages. Nongovernmental Impact: Organized criminal groups exercised a grave influence over media outlets and reporters, threatening individuals who published critical views of crime groups. Emergency contraception was available, including for survivors of sexual assault. 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. Sexual Harassment: Federal law prohibits sexual harassment and provides for fines from 250 to 5,000 times the minimum daily wage, but the law was not effectively enforced. The law mandates that all discrimination cases, including sexual harassment, bypass formerly mandatory conciliation and proceed directly to the labor courts.