A/HRC/28/68/Add.3 I. Introduction 1. The Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment visited Mexico from 21 April to 2 May 2014 to assess the situation of torture and ill-treatment and work with the State to prevent and eradicate it. 2. The Special Rapporteur held meetings with senior officials of the Secretariats of Foreign Affairs, the Interior, National Defence, the Navy and Health; the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic (PGR); the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies; the Supreme Court of Justice; the Council of the Judiciary; and the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH). He met with officials of the authorities, attorney general’s offices and human rights commissions of the states visited — the Federal District, Nuevo León, Chiapas and Baja California — and took part in the National Conference of Attorneys General in Nuevo Vallarta. He also met with civil society representatives, victims and their family members and members of international organizations and the diplomatic community. 3. The Special Rapporteur thanks the Government for inviting him to visit Mexico, a sign of its openness to independent and objective scrutiny, and thanks the authorities for cooperating fully with him during his visit. Despite situations where excessive preparations had been made for his visit, in general the Special Rapporteur had unrestricted access to detention centres, in keeping with his Terms of Reference.1 The Special Rapporteur regrets that he was not allowed access to the State Investigation Agency of the Nuevo León Attorney General’s Office, especially since he received a number of complaints of torture having occurred there. 4. The Special Rapporteur visited prisons, pretrial detention, arraigo (investigative or pre-charge) detention centres, juvenile detention centres, a psychiatric hospital, a social assistance centre and a migrant holding centre. 5. The Special Rapporteur thanks the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Mexico for its valuable assistance and civil society and the international community for their fundamental contributions, and expresses his solidarity with victims and their representatives. II. Legal framework A. International level 6. Mexico has ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons against Enforced Disappearance. 7. Mexico has ratified the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, although article 21 of its Constitution establishes that “the Federal Government may, with the 1 GE.14-25288 E/CN.4/1998/45, appendix V. 3