A/HRC/28/68/Add.3 done by the Centre’s staff with very limited resources, there are persons with serious disabilities and chronic unmet medical needs who have been living there, some of them for over 20 years, in insanitary conditions and a state of abandonment, with little likelihood of rehabilitation. These persons receive social assistance and little else; they have no health care and there are no safeguards for the prevention of torture and ill-treatment. IV. Conclusions and recommendations A. Conclusions 76. Torture and ill-treatment in the moments following detention and before detainees are brought before a judge are generalized in Mexico and occur in a context of impunity, the aim usually being to inflict punishment or to extract confessions or information. There is evidence of the active participation of police and ministerial police forces from almost all jurisdictions and of the armed forces, but also of tolerance, indifference or complicity on the part of some doctors, public defenders, prosecutors and judges. 77. Safeguards are weak, especially those for detecting and preventing torture in these first moments of detention and ensuring its prompt, impartial, independent and exhaustive investigation. Detention records and medical examinations are often inadequate and do not mention allegations or evidence of torture; there is inadequate monitoring of the legality of detention or the deadline for bringing detainees before the Public Prosecution Service; detainees are not given immediate access to an adequate defence; detainees’ statements are given without judicial oversight or the presence of a lawyer; investigations are not launched automatically and evidence obtained under torture is not excluded automatically; and the Istanbul Protocol is being interpreted restrictively and incorrectly. 78. The Government acknowledges the need to strengthen safeguards. The legislative framework has been strengthened by the 2008 and 2011 constitutional amendments and the General Victims Act and in part by the amendment to the Code of Military Justice prohibiting military courts from handling cases of human rights violations committed against civilians. Proposals are under discussion that would bring the federal definition of torture into line with international standards, restrict the application of arraigo and create the position of sentence enforcement judge. The Supreme Court has played an active role in guaranteeing human rights by adopting decisions that restrict arraigo and military jurisdiction, make decisions of the InterAmerican Court of Human Rights binding on Mexico, emphasize the obligation automatically to investigate any allegation of torture and exclude evidence obtained as a result of torture or violations of fundamental rights. The recent adoption of the protocol directing the conduct of judges hearing cases of torture is a positive step for strengthening safeguards. However, the number of reported cases of torture remains high and underrepresents their actual incidence. The Government has not succeeded in reversing the prevailing impunity, nor has it made progress in ensuring the necessary comprehensive redress. 79. The Special Rapporteur expresses his extreme concern at the September 2014 events in Iguala (Guerrero), where municipal authorities, in collusion with organized crime, forcibly disappeared 43 student teachers, executed a further 6, some of whose bodies showed clear signs of torture, and injured more than 20 people. This unacceptable tragedy urgently demands that the Government implement structural reforms in the area of security, the fight against corruption and human rights 18 GE.14-25288

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