Women, children, indigenous persons, persons with disabilities, LGBTQI+ persons, and migrants (including men, women, and children) were the most vulnerable to forced labor (see section 7.c.). In July a joint investigation by media outlets reported a leaked Pegasus list of more than 15,000 individuals as possible targets for surveillance in 2016 and 2017. OSAC membership includes 5,400+ member organizations and 18,000+ individual members from corporate, non-profit, academic, and faith-based groups of every size, all with overseas operations and personnel who are exposed to ever-evolving security issues. Five states have laws that restrict the publishing of political caricatures or memes. These laws were seldom applied. On August 7, Yucatan governor Mauricio Villa announced the arrest of four police officers, but on August 14, a judge set them free due to a lack of evidence. According to NGO Article 19, lethal attacks occurred against journalists in Sonora, including the killings of Benjamin Morales on May 3 and Ricardo Lopez Dominguez on July 22 and the disappearance of Jorge Molontzin on March 16. Journalists reported altering their coverage due to a lack of protection from the government, attacks against members of media and newsrooms, and threats or retributions against their families, among other reasons. El Salvador Travel Advisory - United States Department of State In June media outlets reported that a fight between two rival groups of inmates left six inmates dead and nine wounded at a prison in Villahermosa, Tabasco. In January 2020, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights issued a report on Guatemala, referring . February 27, 2023 alexandra bonefas scott No Comments . Criminal groups became increasingly involved in the illegal timber trade in Chihuahua, which accounted for 70 percent of the wood consumed in the country. The law prohibits such practices and requires search warrants. Organized criminal groups were implicated in numerous killings, acting with impunity and at times in collusion with corrupt federal, state, local, and security officials. During the first six months of 2021 the INEGI reported a total 16,972 (provisional) and the SESNSP reported 16,950 murders. The group reported 16 acts of aggression against female journalists between January and July and called on the Puebla governor to guarantee the adoption of public policies to respect, protect, and guarantee the exercise of journalism. In most states alternative justice centers employed mechanisms such as mediation, negotiation, and restorative justice to resolve minor offenses outside the court system. Online discrimination, harassment, and threats were problems particularly for women journalists and politicians, as well as any individuals and organizations advocating for womens rights. According to the National Womens Institute, the federal institution charged with directing national policy on equal opportunity for men and women, sexual harassment in the workplace was a significant problem. Between January and June, the commission registered that 115,534 women received attention in Justice Centers for Women throughout the country, a 19 percent increase over the same period in 2020. Nevertheless, women nationwide faced obstacles to accessing emergency services due to health providers personal objections to emergency contraception or misunderstanding of their legal obligations to provide services. Journalists who asked difficult questions of government officials during press engagements received attacks via Twitter. NGOs stated authorities failed to investigate torture allegations adequately. The 27,751 calls to the hotline in May were the most since the creation of the hotline. Since 2019 more than 60 women accused Roemer of sexual abuse, assault, and rape. As of October the Special Unit for the Investigation and Litigation of the Ayotzinapa case had arrested more than 80 suspects, including army captain Jose Martinez Crespo, an Iguala municipal police officer, and the Iguala municipal police chief. Inspectors generally were permitted to examine the informal sector only in response to complaints. All states prohibit marriage of persons younger than age 18. Physical Conditions: According to the Federal Prison System, as of June there were 220,393 inmates in 288 state and federal facilities with a designed capacity for 217,064. Voting centers for federal elections were generally accessible for persons with disabilities, and ballots were available with a braille overlay for federal elections in Mexico City, but these services were inconsistently available for local elections elsewhere in the country. If the relevant authority accepts a CNDH recommendation, the CNDH is required to follow up with the authority to verify that it is carrying out the recommendation. Organized criminal groups reportedly continued to oversee illicit activities from within penitentiary walls, and rival drug cartel members often fought in prison. Enforcement was inadequate in many small companies, in agriculture, and in construction, and nearly absent in the informal sector in which most child laborers worked. The Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) was created in 1985 under the Federal Advisory Committee Act to promote security cooperation between American private-sector interests worldwide and the U.S. Department of State. Political parties nominated more female candidates for public office in the midterm elections than ever before, including half of their candidates for governor in the 15 races up for election. The reforms provide workers with the right to freely elect union representatives and approve or reject collective bargaining agreements through a secret ballot process before they are registered. Zeron led the investigation of the case by the former criminal investigations unit in the Attorney Generals Office at the time of the students disappearances. Emergency contraception was available, including for survivors of sexual assault. As of September workers had reviewed and voted on 1,790 collective bargaining agreements, less than 1 percent of the total number of agreements. Southern states reported the lowest access to skilled health care during pregnancy due to geographic, financial, and cultural barriers. The procedure known in Spanish as arraigo (a constitutionally permitted form of pretrial detention employed during the investigative phase of a criminal case before probable cause is fully established) allows, with a judges approval, for certain suspects to be detained prior to filing formal charges. In April authorities arrested 30 members of the navy and charged them with forced disappearances in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, in 2018. is revolver magazine legit is revolver magazine legit. Children performed dangerous tasks in agriculture in the production of beans, chili peppers, coffee, cucumbers, eggplants, melons, onions, tomatoes, and tobacco. Children also produced garments, leather goods, and illicit crops such as opium poppies; engaged in illicit activities such as the production and trafficking of drugs; and experienced sexual exploitation, often as a result of human trafficking. In 2016 all civilian and military courts officially transitioned from an inquisitorial legal system based primarily upon judicial review of written documents to an accusatorial trial system reliant upon oral testimony presented in open court. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, and NGOs expressed concerns regarding arbitrary detention and the potential for it to lead to other human rights abuses. According to INEGIs 2016 National Survey on the Dynamics of Household Relationships, 22 percent of working women reported experiencing labor discrimination within the previous 12 months. Write by: . Federal law sets six eight-hour days and 48 hours per week as the legal workweek. After the STPS canceled the vote, in May the rapid response mechanism under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement commenced, and the government agreed to review a denial of freedom of association and collective bargaining rights at the plant, confirming the denial of rights. The federal government created a National System for the Search of Missing Persons as required by law, but as of August it had not established the required National Forensic Data Bank. A forensic doctor at the Yucatan Prosecutor Generals Office confirmed that he had suffered sexual abuse. In April the STPS suspended a legitimization vote at the General Motors plant in Silao, Guanajuato, due to serious irregularities during the vote. On August 8, self-proclaimed members of Cartel Jalisco New Generation released a video showing a group of armed men threatening to kill journalist Azucena Uresti for reporting on self-defense groups fighting the cartel in Michoacan. by . In June a federal judge sentenced Juan Francisco Picos Barrueto to 32 years in prison for the 2017 murder of journalist Javier Valdez Cardenas. Occupational Safety and Health: The law requires employers to observe occupational safety and health regulations, issued jointly by the STPS and Institute for Social Security. This limited medias ability to investigate and report, since many of the reporters who were killed covered crime, corruption, and local politics. The survey also reported that persons with darker skin completed 6.5 years of schooling, while those with white skin completed 10 years. sector overseas and produce reports, briefings, and . In June the government amended the General Law on Womens Access to a Life Free of Violence to include media and digital violence as a form of violence against women. GitHub export from English Wikipedia. In-country Movement: There were numerous instances of armed groups limiting the movements of migrants, including by threats and acts of kidnapping, extortion, and homicide. World Report 2022: Venezuela | Human Rights Watch According to multiple NGOs, due to COVID-19s impact on the economy, funding sources for womens shelters, including for indigenous women, were insufficient. According to several NGOs and unions, many workers faced violence and intimidation perpetrated by protection union leaders and employers supporting them, as well as other workers, union leaders, and vigilantes hired by a company to suppress opposition to an existing union in bargaining-rights elections. Child, Early, and Forced Marriage: The legal minimum marriage age is 18. Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) | LinkedIn car accident in brooklyn today belt parkway. Governmental Posture Towards International and Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Abuses of Human Rights, Section 6. Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) - United States Department of At the federal level, the Secretariat of Social Development, Prosecutor Generals Office, and National System for Integral Family Development share responsibility for inspections to enforce child labor laws and to intervene in cases in which employers violate such laws. There were 46 female candidates for governor; from 2012 to 2018, there cumulatively only 42. Following the introduction of the accusatorial justice system, however, there was a significant reduction in the number of persons detained in this manner, falling from more than 1,900 in 2011 to 21 in 2018. Workers, the employer, or an interested third party may request the CAB or court rule on the legality of the strike, which may find the strike is nonexistent and therefore illegal. In October 2020 the Electoral Tribunal granted registration to three new political parties: Solidary Encounter Party, Progressive Social Networks, and Social Force for Mexico. Through a nationwide assessment process, the National Search Commission (CNB) revised the governments official number of missing or disappeared persons repeatedly as additional data became available. In cases involving organized crime, the law allows authorities to hold suspects up to 96 hours before requiring them to seek judicial review. osac mexico 2020 crime and safety report. Observers noted that it also increased the likelihood of work-related illness and injury. The governments National Council of Norms and Labor Competencies certified law enforcement internal affairs investigators and created standard internal affairs training to promote transparency and accountability. The OSAC Program Office is headquartered in Washington, DC and is overseen by a 34-member public-private Council. Nonetheless, NGOs and media reported on sexual exploitation of minors, as well as child sex tourism in resort towns and northern border areas. The NGO also reported the existence of multiple unregistered private institutions without licenses operating as orphanages. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, a. Call this number to report violent crime, arrest, or grave . 03 / Select Countries You can add more than one country or area. The government continued implementing the labor reforms in a phased manner, with the reform coming online in eight states in November 2020, and phase two started on November 3 with 13 states, and phase three to be concluded on May 1, 2022, for the remaining states. The law prohibits children younger than age 15 from working and allows those ages 15 to 17 to work no more than six daytime hours in nonhazardous conditions daily, and only with parental permission and permission from the labor authority. The government was reasonably effective in enforcing child labor laws in large and medium-sized companies, especially in the export-oriented factory (maquiladora) sector and other industries under federal jurisdiction. Nonetheless, discrimination was common against racial and ethnic minorities, including Black, Afro-Mexican, and indigenous groups. OSAC provides the latest safety- and security-related information, public announcements, travel advisories, terrorist group profiles, country crime and safety reports, and more to its constituency of more than 4,600 U.S. companies and organizations with overseas interests. Women and children were subjected to domestic servitude. Black migrants reported migration authorities detained Black migrants for longer periods than other migrants. Arbitrary Arrest: Allegations of arbitrary detentions persisted throughout the year. Write by: . As of July, 39 percent of active unions under local jurisdiction had registered required amendments to their amended statutes to incorporate new secret ballot and gender equity requirements with the CABs. in alan wong married. In July 2020 he was arrested in another country pursuant to a Mexican extradition request on charges that he diverted millions of dollars in public funds. Mexico is a multiparty federal republic with an elected president and bicameral legislature. Approximately 23 percent of informal workers (6.8 million persons) were employed by formal businesses or organizations but paid in cash off the books to evade taxes and social security payments. State search collectives reported being victims, at times fatal, of attacks, threats, and other acts of harassment. Due to low internet penetration and television ownership in indigenous communities, distance learning was often inaccessible. In May in Chicoloapan, state of Mexico, municipal police beat and detained supporters of feminist groups as they led a protest against gender-based violence and political parties. Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of the MORENA party coalition won the presidential election in generally free and fair multiparty elections in 2018. Twitter users posted threats against journalists. As of August 25, former governor of Chihuahua Cesar Duarte was awaiting an extradition decision. Significant human rights issues included credible reports of: unlawful or arbitrary killings by police, military, and other governmental officials; forced disappearance by government agents; torture and degrading treatment by security forces; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary arrest or detention; restrictions on free expression and media, including violence against journalists; acts of corruption; insufficient investigation of and accountability for gender-based violence, including but not limited to domestic and intimate partner violence; crimes involving violence or threats of violence targeting persons with disabilities; and crimes involving violence or threats of violence targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex persons. Higher Risk Travel - Education Abroad Office - University of South Carolina There were accusations of sexual abuse against authorities during arrest and detention. In October and November, I spent several . There were reports the government did not always investigate and punish those complicit in abuses against LGBTQI+ persons, especially outside Mexico City. The government did not effectively enforce the law or regulations. This was a common practice in the maquiladora sector, in which employers forced workers to take leave at low moments in the production cycle and obliged them to work in peak seasons, including the Christmas holiday period, without the corresponding triple pay mandated by law for voluntary overtime on national holidays. The presidential cabinet had 19 secretariats, and as of August women headed seven. Following Ramos killing, Cecilia Flores, the leader of one of the search collectives in which Ramos participated, received death threats. NGOs reported that acts of excessive use of force and arbitrary detention occurred against female protesters, especially those protesting gender-based violence.