UN High Commissioner (UN) Human Rights Volker Türk expressed this Friday his concern about the proposed constitutional reform of the Mexican government, which aims to expand the list of crimes covered by informal preventive detention.

“Automatic preventive detention contradicts basic principles human rights. Preventive detention must be a measure based on an individual decision by a judicial authority that the circumstances of each case justify such detention,” Turk said in a statement.

On the other hand, the Mexican Chamber of Deputies approved this Wednesday the reform of the Constitution, expand the catalog of crimes it deserves informal preventive detention, which will now include extortion and crimes related to the production and distribution of synthetic drugs such as fentanyl.

The UN says international mechanisms such as the Human Rights Committee and the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention have repeatedly recommended that informal preventive detention be eliminated from law and practice in Mexico. something that directly contradicts this reform.

“Mexico faces various challenges in terms of security and access to justice, but Expanding the use of informal preventive detention is not the answer“Said the High Commissioner.

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Turk calls for considering alternatives to incarceration and focusing on “strengthen the capacity” of prosecutors to collect evidence and demonstrate the necessity and proportionality of preventive detention on a case-by-case basis.

“I call on Mexico’s decision-makers to stop proposed reforms that expand the scope of informal preventive detention and ensure that the country’s legislation fully complies with its international obligations in matters of human rights,” the UN statement bluntly concludes.

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This measure caused controversy also in Mexico, where representatives of the opposition National Action Party (PAN) assured that “there is no evidence that informal preventive detention reduces crime rates.”

On the contrary, deputy Leonel Godoy from Morena believes that informal preventive detention is a necessity of the situationstating that it has contributed to a reduction in intentional homicides, feminicides and intentional injuries caused by firearms. (EFE)