Human Rights Watch Writes Letter To Mexican President Peña Nieto: 'Not Good Enough'

Human Rights Watch has written a letter to Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto expressing their disappointment at the President's lack of progress on human rights in the country. The letter, written by José Miguel Vivanco, Director of Human Right's Watch Americas Division , begins "I am writing to express our deep disappointment with your failure to make progress on addressing serious human rights abuses in Mexico." The letter then goes on to list the various shortcomings of the president's human rights campaign thusfar, ending with a call for a "new approach" on the crisis.

Human Rights Watch sent a letter to the Mexican President in November last year at the start of his term: the lack of progress has prompted the group to send this second letter to Peña Nieto calling for further action. Mexico's human rights crisis has centered around the country's war on drug cartels. According to the letter, the first year of President Enrique Peña Nieto's presidency has seen no decrease in human rights abuses "including torture, extrajudicial killings, and enforced disappearances - committed by security forces in the context of efforts to combat organized crime."

While Human Rights Watch admitted that some progress had been made in the matter, including a Victims Law "to provide justice and reparations for victims of crime" as well as a recognition of the seriousness that forced disappearances have taken in the country, Vicanco argued that little actual progress had been made in key areas. Among other things, the report cited continuing abuse by security forces, a failure to implement a successful security strategy, the damages wrought by Mexico's presumption of guilt, failure to effectively investigate disappearances and the increase risk faced by journalists and human rights workers in the country.

The detailed letter concluded by saying "To prevent serious human rights violations from continuing, it is necessary to investigate those that have taken place. With five years left of your term, you still have ample time to change course, promote accountability for past abuses, and demonstrate a real commitment to preventing new ones. The longer you wait to address such abuses, the more entrenched the practices will become, and the more difficult it will be to address them."

There has as yet been no response from the President.