The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, urged the Mexican authorities on Thursday to comply expeditiously with the ruling of the Supreme Court of Justice annulling the transfer of the National Guard to military control.
Congress approved last September a legislative reform that allowed the transfer of the National Guard to the control of the Army.
On Tuesday of this week, the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional Said transfer of the security body to the armed forces, and stressed the importance of respecting independence and the separation of powers, as well as the existence of institutional counterweights.
In a statement, Volker Türk stated that it is essential guarantee the civilian nature of the National Guard, “in line with the Mexican Constitution and international human rights standards.”
Enhance civilian capabilities
He added that he hopes that the Court’s decision will give rise to a broad dialogue that will contribute to improving the capacities of the civilian security forces and result in the limitation of the role of the armed forces in public safety tasks.
The High Commissioner highlighted that since 2006, Mexico has been militarizing its security forces, causing a increase in complaints of human rights violations by the soldiers.
He recalled that both the office under his charge and other international human rights organizations have repeatedly asked Mexico to return public security to civil institutions.
Subordination to civil authorities
“The armed forces should only be deployed on security tasks temporarily, in Exceptional circumstancessubordinated to the civil authorities and always under the effective supervision of independent civil bodies”, stressed the High Commissioner.
In 2019, the Government of Mexico eliminated the Federal Police and created the National Guard under the command of the Ministry of Public and Citizen Security, which governed its operations until the transfer of control to the Ministry of National Defense after the approval of the reform. September 2022.