OSAC Council. Sanchez was a reporter for Facebook-based Panorama Pacifico and was in the protection mechanism after suffering an attempt on his life in July 2020. State governments reported investigating 12 suspected forced labor cases in 2020. In August Yucatan passed a law legalizing same-sex marriage, increasing the number of states making it legal to 22 of the countrys 32 states. Between August 23 and August 27, hundreds of migrants from Haiti, Cuba, and Central America protested in front of the National Migration Institute offices in Tapachula, Chiapas, to demand expedited refugee proceedings that would allow them to move freely throughout the country. The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) issued a news release on November 5, 2021 announcing the 14 laboratories in its Crime Laboratory Division have been recognized as implementers of the standards on the OSAC Registry. There were some complaints of illegal searches or illegal destruction of private property. In cases involving organized crime, the law allows authorities to hold suspects up to 96 hours before requiring them to seek judicial review. An Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation study on the use of contraceptives in Chiapas (the poorest state) found that older women were less likely to use family planning methods (13 percent of women ages 35 and older, versus 18 percent of women ages 20-34), while 23 percent of indigenous women opposed birth control for religious, cultural, or social reasons. In February authorities arrested 12 state police officers in Camargo, Tamaulipas, on homicide charges in connection with the massacre and burning of the bodies of three smugglers and 16 Guatemalan migrants en route to the United States. Standards moving through the development process at standards developing organizations (SDOs). 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. In June President Lopez Obrador announced that forensic scientists at the University of Innsbruck conclusively identified the remains of Jhosivani Guerrero, marking the third body identified of the 43 disappeared students. According to labor rights NGOs, employers in all sectors sometimes used the illegal hours bank approach requiring long hours when the workload is heavy and cutting down hours when it is light to avoid compensating workers for overtime. Any corporate, non-profit, academic, faith-based or other U.S.-incorporated organization of any size with operations outside the United States may apply to join. Investigations, prosecutions, and convictions for the crime of forced disappearance were rare. NGOs reported no changes in the mental health system to create community services or any efforts by authorities to have independent experts monitor human rights abuses in psychiatric institutions. Children also produced garments, leather goods, and illicit crops such as opium poppies; engaged in illicit activities such as the production and trafficking of drugs; and experienced sexual exploitation, often as a result of human trafficking. In a June International Organization for Migration survey, 20 percent of citizens and 35 percent of third-country migrants reported using a smuggler to arrive to the U.S.-Mexico border. The minimum age for hazardous work is 18, including all work in the agricultural sector. 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. The CNDH sends a request to the authority asking for evidence of its compliance and includes this follow-up information in its annual report. There were credible reports of sexual assaults against migrants, particularly women, while migrating in and through the country. The web site offers its visitors the latest in safety and security-related information, public announcements, warden messages, travel advisories, significant anniversary dates, terrorist groups profiles, country crime and safety reports, special topic reports, foreign press reports, and much more. Land conflicts, social and ethnic violence, or local political disputes caused other incidents. Women, children, indigenous persons, persons with disabilities, LGBTQI+ persons, and migrants (including men, women, and children) were the most vulnerable to forced labor (see section 7.c.). 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. On August 7, several journalist organizations, including the Puebla Network of Journalists, National Network of Journalists, Communication, and Information on Women, and International Network of Journalists with a Gender Vision, issued a statement denouncing increased levels of violence against female journalists in Puebla from security forces and criminal organizations. Minors were recruited or forced by cartels to traffic persons, drugs, or other goods across the border with the United States. The threat against journalists by organized crime was particularly high in the state of Guerrero. The law requires the Secretariat of Health to promote the creation of long-term institutions for persons with disabilities in distress, and the Secretariat of Social Development must establish specialized institutions to care for, protect, and house poor, neglected, or marginalized persons with disabilities. During the first six months of 2021 the INEGI reported a total 16,972 (provisional) and the SESNSP reported 16,950 murders. Failure to register births could result in the denial of public services such as education or health care. The United States Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) has issued a travel advisory for Americans planning travel to Mexico for spring break.. osac mexico 2020 crime and safety report News reports indicated poor working conditions in some factories. The government continued to pursue the extradition of Tomas Zeron from Israel. 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. See the Department of States International Religious Freedom Report at https://www.state.gov/religiousfreedomreport/. Between January and August the CNDH recorded 123 complaints of arbitrary detention. Rather than receiving daily wages once a week, as mandated by law, day laborers had to meet certain harvest quotas to receive the promised wage. 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. Of the 500 legislators in the Chamber of Deputies, 250 were women, 1 percent more than after the 2018 elections. The COVID-19 pandemic generated additional risks and exacerbated vulnerabilities for IDPs, including overcrowding in shelters and difficulty accessing food, basic health care, and education. In June authorities sentenced Quintana Roo police officer Miguel Mora Olvera to five years in prison for his role in torturing Cacho. There were no reports of political prisoners or detainees. In June the Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision confirming that the exercise of the right to strike suspends the processing of collective conflicts of an economic nature that may be pending before the court and the topics that they present, unless the workers express in writing their agreement to submit the conflict to the decision of the court. Write by: . The Puebla state government sued the news outlet E-Consulta seven times due to its reporting. Impunity largely prevailed on this issue, with just 35 convictions for the crime of . 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.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 . Through a nationwide assessment process, the National Search Commission (CNB) revised the governments official number of missing or disappeared persons repeatedly as additional data became available. As of July, 94 percent of active unions under federal jurisdiction had registered their amended statutes with the Secretariat of Labor and Social Welfare (STPS), but only 39 percent of active unions under local jurisdiction had registered their amendments with the CABs. Western Hemisphere > Mexico > Merida 8/8/2013 Overall Crime and Safety Situation. Police occasionally failed to provide impoverished detainees access to counsel during arrests and investigations as provided for by law, although the right to public defense during trial was generally respected. osac mexico 2020 crime and safety report. According to INEGIs 2016 National Survey on the Dynamics of Household Relationships, 22 percent of working women reported experiencing labor discrimination within the previous 12 months. Coordinator for the Arctic Region, Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources, Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization, Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security, Bureau of Arms Control, Verification and Compliance, Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation, Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights, Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, Office of International Religious Freedom, Office of the Special Envoy To Monitor and Combat Antisemitism, Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment, Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, Office of the Science and Technology Adviser, Bureau of the Comptroller and Global Financial Services, Bureau of Information Resource Management, Office of Management Strategy and Solutions, Bureau of International Organization Affairs, Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, U.S. 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 CNDH headquarters are located in Mexico City. OSAC's public-private partnership currently consists of over 5,400 organization and 18,000 individual members. 03 / Select Countries You can add more than one country or area. Workers argued that the protectionist union holding the collective bargaining agreement pressured workers to legitimize the agreement, offered bribes, and tampered with ballots. The Federal Center took over registration functions nationwide on November 3 and was preparing to launch a national union registry to contain all files related to union registration and statutes, collective bargaining agreements, and union financial statements. Government authorities also reported an increase of 73 percent in online child pornography distribution during the pandemic. Nonetheless, NGOs and media reported on sexual exploitation of minors, as well as child sex tourism in resort towns and northern border areas. In May voting in prisons occurred for the first time in the countrys modern history after the Federal Electoral Tribunal ruled prisoners in pretrial detention had the right to vote. There were reports the government did not always investigate and punish those complicit in abuses against LGBTQI+ persons, especially outside Mexico City. Security experts said government candidate protection programs, which did not cover all those eligible, had a negligible impact on curbing political violence. On January 11, the government ended migratory detention for children. The law prohibits minors from working in a broad list of hazardous and unhealthy occupations. Spousal rape is criminalized in 26 of the 32 states. The governments National Protection Mechanism to Protect Journalists and Human Rights Defenders provided panic buttons, bodyguards, and temporary relocation to journalists and human rights defenders. Horrio de atendimento: Segunda - Sexta das 17h s 21h. Media monopolies, especially in small markets, at times constrained freedom of expression. Child Abuse: There were numerous reports of child abuse. Google received more removal requests from government agents in 2020 than in any other year except 2014. All OSAC products and services are always completely free of charge. According to multiple NGOs, due to COVID-19s impact on the economy, funding sources for womens shelters, including for indigenous women, were insufficient. In July the Prosecutor Generals Office arrested seven members, including the leader, of the Tamayo human smuggling organization. The government, in conjunction with international organizations, made efforts to promote the safe, voluntary return, resettlement, or local integration of IDPs. In its data collection, the government often merged statistics on forcibly disappeared persons with missing persons not suspected of being victims of forced disappearance, making it difficult to compile accurate statistics on the extent of the problem. The law criminalizes sharing, distributing, and publishing intimate sexual content (including photographs, audio, and videos) featuring individuals who have not explicitly given their consent, with penalties of up to six years in prison. According to NGO Article 19, lethal attacks occurred against journalists in Sonora, including the killings of Benjamin Morales on May 3 and Ricardo Lopez Dominguez on July 22 and the disappearance of Jorge Molontzin on March 16. Most formal-sector workers (70 percent) received between one and three times the minimum wage. 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. Media outlets reported authorities tortured and sexually abused Ravelo. 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. The STPS has the authority to order labor inspections at any time in the event of labor law violations, imminent risk to employees, or workplace accidents. Barriers to accessing contraceptives stemmed from lack of knowledge, poverty, lack of access to health services, and sexual violence from family members, strangers, or friends. Authorities sometimes failed to respect court orders, and arrest warrants were sometimes ignored. The U.S. government has limited ability to provide . From 2013 through . While on average informal workers earned less than the minimum wage, in some areas, such as near the northern border, informal employment could pay more than formal employment in the manufacturing sector. osac mexico 2020 crime and safety report osac mexico 2020 crime and safety report. The board identified 3,286 homes in five states for relocation before completion of the construction project. The increase in domestic violence cases that began during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic continued. There were several reports that government entities or their agents committed arbitrary or unlawful killings, often with impunity. By law attorneys are required to meet professional qualifications to represent a defendant. In July the Sonora State Prosecutor Generals Office detained Rojos alleged killer. According to the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) 2016 survey, 18 percent of women ages 15 and older reported having experienced physical violence at the hands of their current or most recent partner, and 6.5 percent reported having experienced sexual violence. The federal government and states continued to implement the law on forced disappearances. Wages were illegally withheld until the end of the harvest to ensure that the workers did not leave. Federal funding assisted the operation of more than 69 shelters, external attention centers, emergency houses, and transition houses. Many women working in the industry reported suffering some form of abuse. Not all public defenders were qualified, however, and often the state public defender system was understaffed. The UN Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) documented cases in the states of Mexico and Chiapas in which detainees remained in pretrial detention for more than 12 years. The Prosecutor Generals Office also obtained an arrest warrant against Lozoyas mother for money laundering, and in 2019 Interpol agents arrested her in Germany. Ramos had been searching for her missing husband for the previous seven months as a member of two search collectives. In August 2020 a federal judge sentenced Juan Carlos El Larry Moreno Ochoa to 50 years in prison for killing Breach. Posted on 26 Feb in delores winans grandchildren. In May in Chicoloapan, state of Mexico, municipal police beat and detained supporters of feminist groups as they led a protest against gender-based violence and political parties. Reconsider travel to El Salvador due to crime.. Country Summary: Violent crime, including armed robbery, homicide and sexual assault are of concern throughout significant portions of the country.Although gang activity varies among departamentos (states) and municipios (municipalities), areas witnessing higher crime rates are often . Members of the Mayan community in Campeche reported the National Tourism Board pressured them to cease protesting and agree to leave their lands. The government made efforts to prevent, investigate, and punish acts of disappearance involving government agents. Sign up with the U.S. State Department's Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP), a free service that alerts the local U.S. Embassy to your presence and connects you to regular updates on traveler safety. Subcontracting is allowed if it is used to perform specialized services unrelated to the main economic activity of businesses or public institutions. Some cases dated back to the 1960s, but the vast majority occurred since 2006. osac mexico 2021 crime and safety report. NGOs stated authorities failed to investigate torture allegations adequately. Since 2019 more than 60 women accused Roemer of sexual abuse, assault, and rape. Although authorities generally maintained effective control over the security forces, there were instances in which security force elements acted independently of civilian control. February 27, 2023 alexandra bonefas scott No Comments . The CNDH noted significant understaffing at all levels in federal prisons, which affected access to programs, activities, medical services, and opportunities to report possible human rights abuses. 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. 0 . On May 1, the role of verifying the process for unions to organize a secret ballot vote for workers to approve or reject existing collective bargaining agreements within the four-year period established by the reforms (legitimization process) transitioned from the STPS to the Federal Center. The government investigated and prosecuted some of these crimes, but the vast majority remained uninvestigated and unprosecuted. The CNDH did not report on the merits of the complaints. This process is designed to ensure that you are made aware of the safety and/or health risks associated with . In 2019 legislators passed a constitutional reform recognizing Afro-Mexicans as an ethnic group.