HIGHLIGHTS OF RESULTS Highlights of pillar results Accountability (A) PILLAR RESULTS / SHIFTS / SDGs RESULTS / SPOTLIGHTS A1 In Mexico, a National Law on the Use of Force (LNUF) was adopted in May. During his visit to Mexico in 2015, the then High Commissioner for Human Rights recommended that Mexico adopt legislation on the use of force and, since then, several special procedures have issued similar recommendations. During the congressional debates related to the preparation of the draft law, UN Human Rights presented a document outlining the international standards that needed to be incorporated. Many of these standards were included in the final version. In May, UN Human Rights issued a statement acknowledging the positive aspects of the Law, while also underscoring its shortcomings, particularly regarding the lack of regulation on the use of lethal force and accountability. Following the adoption of the Law, the Office began to monitor its implementation, document cases of human rights violations and advocate for the security forces to fully comply with the LNUF. Laws, policies and practices increasingly address, prevent and reduce human rights violations in the context of law enforcement and justice systems. A2 Strengthened national mechanisms provide redress to victims and accountability for human rights violations, including for economic and social rights. Spotlights: Youth Disabilities Women Under the individual complaint procedures of the human rights treaty bodies, individuals have the right to complain about alleged human rights violations. In 2019, the eight treaty bodies that can receive individual complaints had registered a total of 640 new individual communications and had adopted 376 final decisions on communications. The Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) registered 248 new urgent actions and adopted 139 follow-up decisions with regard to registered urgent actions, bringing the total number of decisions it adopted in 2019 to 389. In addition, 3,360 individual communications were registered in 2019 and 65 decisions were adopted to close urgent actions. Several NGOs in Mexico created, with UN Human Rights support, a website, sintortura.org, which was launched, in November, to monitor the implementation of the General Law on Torture. The website includes information on the status and number of investigations, the number of convictions for torture and forensic torture exams. It is also used for advocacy before the authorities across the country. In addition, the Office provided technical assistance and support to civil society organizations and victims’ groups to promote the creation of an Extraordinary Forensic Mechanism, including by holding periodic meetings with government stakeholders and diplomatic missions to identify opportunities for collaboration. After several months of dialogue, an agreement was reached between the various actors involved in the process and the Extraordinary Forensic Mechanism was formally established on 5 December. The President of Nigeria signed into law the Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act, enshrining the provisions of CRPD into national legislation. This came about following advocacy by the UN, its partners and stakeholders. To prepare the grounds for this achievement, UN Human Rights organized a workshop on CRPD, in 2018, which brought together relevant stakeholders and government representatives. 50 UN HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2019 Shifts: Global Constituency Prevention Civic Space