Mexico’s Citizen Observatory of the Justice System, the Due Process of Law Foundation, Latin America Working Group, and the Washington Office on Latin America cordially invite you to an event featuring:
José Antonio Guevara Bermúdez
Executive Director, Mexican Commission for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights (CMDPDH), Mexico
José Luis Gutiérrez Román
Executive Director, Human Rights Legal Assistance (AsiLEGAL), Mexico
Ana Dulce Aguilar García
Project Director, Institute of Procedural Criminal Justice (IJPP), Mexico
In 2008, Mexico passed a series of constitutional and legislative reforms designed to make its justice system more effective, efficient, and transparent. In recognition of the magnitude of the reforms, the Mexican Congress established an eight-year transition period for their implementation, which ends in 2016. So far, progress has been slow and only four states are fully operating under the adversarial judicial model in which the prosecution and defense present competing evidence and arguments in open court.
Reforming Mexico’s criminal justice system is a monumental and urgent task. Currently only around ten percent of crimes in Mexico are ever reported, mainly due to citizens’ lack of trust in the system. Of all of the crimes committed, investigations are only started in about six percent of the cases, with even fewer leading to convictions.
Please join us for a lively panel discussion with representatives from the Mexican organizations who form part of the Observatorio Ciudadano del Sistema de Justicia (Citizen Observatory of the Justice System) to examine Mexico’s justice reforms from a human rights perspective. The three experts will speak about the origins of the justice reforms and the implications of the 2011 human rights constitutional reforms. They will also discuss the current realities and challenges for implementing the reforms, including the persistence of pre-trial detention and other preventative measures in the new accusatory system. This is an opportunity to learn about the current state of justice reform in the country from a group of uniquely qualified experts based in Mexico.
