Receipt of support from the ICC in the investigations of the most serious crimes in the country, would represent an indispensable step in the eradication of impunity in Mexico.
In the note “Impunity Situation in Mexico”, presented at the Webinar “And impunity? situation of Mexico and Colombia”, Idheas and the FIDH stressed that, at the present time, Mexican prosecutors’ offices, when studying the events, do not have effective investigation methods for finding those responsible for crimes against humanity, for example, by not investigating the context of the crimes, the persons who masterminded their commission, the command chains, the hierarchical superiors and those who are primarily responsible, and also macro-criminality networks. The note also details the almost complete impunity surrounding, for example, the more than 60,000 events of disappearance or the 300,000 murders that have been committed since 2006.
These deficiencies had already been reported in communications sent to the International Criminal Court in previous years by organisations such as the Mexican Commission for the Defence and Promotion of Human Rights (CMDPDH), the FIDH and Idheas, who, in addition to demonstrating the existence of crimes against humanity in Mexico, documented shortcomings such as investigations conducted by authorities who were not independent and impartial, and also complicity between government authorities and organised crime.
In the document “Impunity Situation in Mexico”, the organisations state that if a preliminary examination were opened, this “would enable Mexico to take an indispensable turn in the methods for investigating cases enmeshed in contexts of structural violence and generalised and systematic attacks against the civil population, and also an area where victims of crimes against humanity can find justice”. The opening of such an examination can take place if the State refers the situation of Mexico to the ICC or if the ICC Prosecution Office decides propio motu to open a preliminary examination.
International justice is the last door at which victims of serious crimes can knock in order to gain access to truth, justice and comprehensive reparation.
The Webinar “And impunity? situation of Mexico and Colombia” is the launch activity for the joint Mexico and Colombia campaign #JuntasContraLaImpunidad [Together Against Impunity] and it was conducted in the context of the project of Idheas, the FIDH and the Colectivo de Abogados José Alvear Restrepo (CAJAR), called “To contribute to the reduction of the impunity rate for cases of forced disappearance and extrajudicial executions in Mexico and Colombia”, financed by the European Union in the framework of the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights.
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