UN and Others Urge Mexico to Veto New Security Law

Amnesty International, AI, has issued a public statement requesting that Mexican president, Enrique Pena Nieto, veto the Internal Security Law, a bill passed by Mexico's Congress last Friday. The legal measure, according to AI's Secretary General, Salil Shetty, runs “contrary to Mexico's obligations under international law.”

RELATED: 
Mexico One Step Closer to Legalizing Military State

He noted that human rights organizations “are very concerned about its implementation, without a doubt. It will only increase the long list of serious human rights violations in Mexico, including extrajudicial executions, torture and forced disappearances.”

The general secretary of the London-based non-governmental organization also considers that the law lacks "effective mechanisms of supervision or control" of soldiers and sailors deployed in the Mexican territories.” It, in effect, dictates that the “armed forces would guide their own operations and even coordinate with police in a dangerous subjection of the civilian forces to the military."

The High Commissioner of the United Nations for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, also weighed in on the controversial law, urging Pena Nieto to make his position clear on the bill which has garnered “unprecedented national and international consensus against him.”

In a press release that shared concerns detailed by AI, the UN High Commissioner noted that the promulgation of the Internal Security Law undermines human rights. It added that Mexico's legislative branch, completely ignoring the chorus of activists, academics and civil society, only made cosmetic modifications to the bill and consummating the final version of the text without properly public deliberation.

After a complex transit through the legislative power chambers, all that remains is for Pena Nieto to sign the security bill into law. A number of opposition political parties have promised to convene in front of Mexico's Supreme Court to protest the unconstitutionality of the law whenever it is published in the country's official gazette.

The law legalizes, among other provisions, the president’s ability as commander in chief to order the military to perform police duties, such as conducting raids and arresting civilians.

The executive would not be required to disclose information regarding these deployments meant to “combat organized crime and terrorism” or anything else that threatens “national security.” The state can also “suspend human rights” if “society is in serious danger or conflict.”