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(Washington, D.C.) – Mexican Lawmakers who take office on August 31, 2024, should reject a series of constitutional reform proposals that could undermine judicial independence, government accountability, and privacy rights, Human Rights Watch said today. The proposals could also lead to an increase in military abuses and arbitrary detentions.
The proposals are contained in five bills that Congress is expected to take up when it resumes on September 1. The bills would expand automatic pretrial detention, replace the current judicial appointment process with popular elections, remove constitutional restrictions that prohibit the military from performing civilian law enforcement, reform the electoral system and abolish the country’s independent privacy and government transparency watchdog.
“These dangerous proposals would undermine judicial independence, give the military unprecedented power to control civilians, and remove safeguards designed to protect human rights,” he said. Juanita GobertesAmericas director at Human Rights Watch. “Given Mexico’s long history of serious rights violations and official cover-ups, lawmakers should take steps to strengthen human rights protections, not weaken them.”
The five notes are part of a series of 18 Proposed constitutional reforms Outgoing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador Sent to Congress in FebruaryPresident-elect Claudia Sheinbaum, whose party controls Congress, has approved many of the proposals and Urge lawmakers to approve these bills before she takes office on October 1.
One of the billsLawmakers said it would be The first batch ofThe new law would significantly change the way federal judges are selected and supervised. Currently, federal judges are selected based on scores in a public, competitive evaluation process run by the Federal Judicial Training School and are eligible to apply for tenure after six years of service.
Under the proposed reforms, judicial term limits would be eliminated and judges would be elected every nine years in local elections in each judicial district from a slate of candidates selected by the president, Congress and the Supreme Court. About 1,650 federal judges currently in office would be forced to resign and be replaced in elections in 2025 and 2027. The bill would require all state legislatures to make similar changes to the judicial appointment process for their state court systems within 180 days, which would affect about 5,000 state judges and magistrates.
The proposal would also reduce the size of the Supreme Court, shorten the terms of its members and replace current members in a special election in 2025. The proposal would also allow judges to hear cases involving organized crime charges anonymously, so that defendants would not know the identity of the judge who would rule on their cases.
Human Rights Watch said the proposals would seriously undermine judicial independence and violate international human rights standards aimed at ensuring that everyone gets a fair trial in court.
Below International StandardsJudges should be guaranteed tenure and protected from political influence to ensure that they can make decisions based solely on the facts of the case and in accordance with the law. The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers has stressed the importance of adopting “A non-political appointment process, strictly based on quality and professional competence” judicial candidate.
In July, the Special Rapporteur expressed concern that A letter to President López Obradorargued that the proposed changes could “increase the risk that judicial candidates will try to please voters or campaign sponsors to improve their reelection chances, rather than making decisions based solely on judicial norms and standards.”
The United Nations Human Rights Committee and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights have said trials by “faceless judges” violate the right to a fair trial because defendants cannot assess whether the judge hearing their case has a conflict of interest.
other Bills under consideration It would eliminate Mexico’s National Institute for Transparency, Access to Information and Data Protection, an independent agency that enforces Mexico’s transparency and data protection rules. The agency has the power to require the government to comply with freedom of information requests and to require any public or private organization to allow people access to their personal data, such as medical records. It can issue fines to enforce its rulings and take legal action against the government.
Under the proposal, government departments will be responsible for ensuring they comply with freedom of information laws. Between October 2022 and September 2023, the agency received and reviewed nearly 20,000 complaints Some say government agencies refuse to comply with access to information rules.
Human Rights Watch said eliminating independent transparency agencies and allowing the government to enforce compliance with freedom of information laws on its own would undermine Mexicans’ rights to privacy and access to public information.
The proposed constitutional reforms would also go further Expanding automatic pretrial detentionThe Mexican constitution already requires judges to order the detention of anyone accused of racketeering, drug trafficking, tax fraud, smuggling or crimes related to fentanyl production and trafficking without reviewing the circumstances of the case to determine whether the detention is justified. Pretrial detention It involves more than a dozen types of crimes.
Human Rights Watch said requiring judges to order pretrial detention without reviewing the circumstances of each case violates international human rights law and is not an effective way to address crime.
Under international law, pretrial detention should only be used in exceptional circumstances, with a case-by-case analysis to determine whether it is necessary, such as to prevent flight, to interfere with evidence, or to prevent the recurrence of a crime. Inter-American Court of Human Rights Already ruled Mexico’s use of mandatory pretrial detention violates human rights standards Order it to reform its laws and constitution Eliminate this practice. 88,000 people As of the end of 2022, there were 150 prisoners in pretrial detention, accounting for about 40% of the total prison population.
In addition, a proposed bill It would remove the constitutional ban on the military performing nonmilitary functions outside of wartime, permanently transfer control of the National Guard, the main federal law enforcement agency, to the Department of Defense, and formally give the president the power to deploy the military domestically at his discretion indefinitely.
The army has Informal deployment It has had virtually no civilian oversight since 2006, during which time it has committed Massive human rights violationsThese include executions, enforced disappearances and torture, which are rarely investigated, with no accountability for offenders and no justice for victims. President López Obrador has greatly expanded the role of the military, giving the army and navy control over Hundreds of traditional civilian government missionsHowever, civil oversight and accountability have not expanded accordingly.
“Mexico desperately needs more effective security and judicial institutions,” Gobertus said. “Sadly, these proposed bills are likely to have exactly the opposite effect.”
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