CAT/OP/MEX/1/Add.2
62.
The Act sets forth five key areas of social rehabilitation: (i) employment;
(ii) employment training; (iii) education; (iv) health and (v) sport. In addition, it contains
guidelines for the objective assessment of inmates, involving expert appraisals by medical,
mental health, educational and occupational specialists for the purpose of reviewing their
behaviour and the serving of their sentence.
63.
It is intended that the concept of prisons will be modernized by this Act, given that
over 229,000 inmates will benefit. This reform is in line with the mandate set out in the
constitutional reforms of 18 June 2008, which directs that a new criminal justice system be
instituted with a view to establishing the oral accusatory and adversarial model.
6.
Draft Victims Act
64.
On 30 April 2012 the Chamber of Deputies unanimously adopted a ruling to put into
effect the Victims Act, which had been approved by the Senate on 24 April of that year.
The draft text has been submitted to the executive with a view to its promulgation and
publication in the Official Gazette of the Federation.
65.
The purpose of this legislative bill is to recognize and guarantee the rights of victims
of crime and human rights violations, in particular their right to assistance, care, support,
truth, justice and comprehensive redress, on the basis of international standards relating to
protection, support and full reparation, and to promote the widest possible protection of the
individual.
66.
The bill implements three articles of the Constitution: article 1, which lays down the
obligation of the three levels of government and branches of the State to promote, uphold,
protect and guarantee human rights and to prevent, investigate and punish violations of
those rights and grant redress for such violations, and its transitional article 2, which
provides for the creation of a law on reparations; article 17, which, pursuant to the criminal
justice reform of 2008, establishes procedural rights and constitutional principles
concerning redress, including class actions; and article 20, section C, which recognizes the
general principles of protection and observance of victims’ rights and the provision of
redress in the event of their violation.
67.
The most important aspects of the adopted ruling are as follows:
• It requires the Mexican Government to ensure the protection of persons who are
victims of crime or human rights violations. In particular, it aims to provide for the
restoration of violated rights, guarantees of due diligence and non-recurrence and all
other rights established in the Constitution and in international treaties to which
Mexico is a party;
• It recognizes victims of crime and human rights violations as direct victims and their
immediate family and dependants as indirect victims;
• It recognizes victims as rights-holders and establishes the following rights as
guiding principles: respect for the dignity of victims, non-revictimization, good faith
(whereby a victim’s statement is deemed truthful), due diligence and a differentiated
and specialized approach. In addition to these principles, the Act establishes a
number of victims’ rights, such as their right to aid, assistance and support, their
right to access to justice, their rights in criminal proceedings and their right to the
truth and to comprehensive redress;
• As regards the right to truth, it lays down that victims, their relatives and society in
general are entitled to be informed of the nature of the acts which constituted the
crime or human rights violation, the identity of those responsible and the
circumstances which gave rise to its perpetration and to be afforded the right of
access to justice in conditions of equality;
GE.13-41196 (EXT)
27
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