Translated by Alise Rule
Various national and international organizations sent a letter to the Political Coordination Committee of the Senate of Mexico, in which they lamented that the legislature has still not begun work to reform the Military Justice Code, as indicated by the four rulings of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights against the Mexican State.
They also reminded that this lack of compliance will be noted next October in front of the UN Human Rights Council and the Special Rapporteur of that organization on extrajudicial executions, Christof Heyns, who is currently on an official visit to Mexico.
The letter, signed by organizations like Amnesty International and the All Rights for All Network - which includes more than 70 organizations throughout the country- notes that coordinating the Military Justice Code with the standards of the American Convention of Human Rights is a matter of “primary importance,” above all for those who have suffered violations of their fundamental rights at the hands of elements of the armed forces.
Upon discussing the case of indigenous man Bonfilio Rubio Villegas, murdered on a military base in 2009, the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation declared unconstitutional Article 57, Section II of the aforementioned code. The organizations who signed the letter noted that the Senate now has “all the technical elements” to carry out the necessary reforms.
Given this scenario, they reminded that the failure of the authorities to comply will be shown at the next meeting of the UN Human Rights Council, to be held in October of this year, in the context of the Universal Periodic Review.
"The Congress has the historic opportunity to send a strong message regarding its interest in the respect and defense of fundamental rights, giving priority to discussion of reform of the Military Justice Code, based on the existing international standards of human rights,” emphasized the organizations.That's why, they point out, if the current legislature decides to act,
“it could be a first step towards coordinating secondary law in accordance with the constitutional instrument created by virtue of the recent constitutional reform on human rights.”