Committee against Torture

Consideration of reports submitted by States Parties under article 19 of the Convention

Additional follow-up information provided by Mexico on the implementation of the concluding observations of the Committee against Torture (CAT/C/MEX/CO/4) *

[7 January 2010]

Information on paragraph 14 of the conclusions and recommendations

Measures adopted to ensure that the military courts and court officials, who report directly to the Ministry of Defence, enjoy the independence required for fair trials

1.To ensure that justice is administered in accordance with the law, the duties of the military courts are aligned with the provisions of the Constitution of the United States of Mexico, the Code of Military Justice and other domestic regulations. The courts therefore act with impartiality in their judicial decisions.

2.The military courts guarantee respect for the principles of independence and impartiality required under international standards, since the mechanism for administering and enforcing military justice is underpinned by the same constitutional bases of legality and legal certainty that govern the civil courts. Because the offices of those involved in the administration and enforcement of military justice are incompatible with any other office within the Armed Forces or the Executive, the persons who occupy these positions are excluded from any other form of military activity, a provision which guarantees their objectivity.

3.In Mexico the civil justice system takes precedence over the military justice system. Decisions handed down in military courts and the Supreme Military Court can be challenged before the civil courts through amparo proceedings, such that it is the courts of the federal judiciary which decide in the final instance whether acts of authority carried out in application of the Code of Military Justice are lawful and, where applicable, whether the provisions of the Code are constitutional.

4.Between 2001 and 2008, decisions handed down in military courts and the Supreme Military Court were challenged in 558 indirect amparo suits brought before the district courts and 400 direct amparo suits brought before the collegiate circuit courts. Amparo was granted in 152 and 209 cases, respectively.

Number of civil complaints of violations of the Convention committed by military personnel in 2008

5.In 2008, the National Human Rights Commission recorded 21 complaints of torture. The Ministry of Defence was the authority presumed to be responsible in 19 of these cases.

Investigation and oversight of complaints and outcomes of legal proceedings

6.Under the provisions of article 102, paragraph b, of the Constitution of the United States of Mexico and article 6, sections I and II, of the National Human Rights Commission Act, the National Human Rights Commission is authorized to receive complaints of alleged human rights violations and to hear and investigate such complaints on the request of the aggrieved party or ex officio.

7.Pursuant to the National Human Rights Commission Act and its rules of procedure, the Commission has competence throughout Mexico to receive, hear and investigate complaints of alleged human rights violations attributed to federal officials. Where both federal officials and state or municipal officials are implicated in the same case, competence for hearing and investigating the case lies with the National Human Rights Commission. The task of investigating the complaint falls to the Inspectorates-General, which are responsible for overseeing the case through to its conclusion.

8.Once the investigation is concluded, if the human rights violations attributed to the public officials are proven, the investigators draft a recommendation in which the facts, arguments, items of proof, convicting evidence and proceedings conducted are analysed for the purpose of determining whether the public officials concerned violated the human rights of those affected by engaging in unlawful, unreasonable, unjust, inappropriate or wrongful acts or omissions. The measures that may be adopted to restore the fundamental rights of the aggrieved parties and, where applicable, repair the damage and injury caused are also detailed in the recommendation. The President of the National Human Rights Commission is responsible for approving and issuing the recommendation drafted by the investigators.

9.Irrespective of the foregoing process, if it appears that military personnel were involved in the events, the Military Prosecution Service initiates preliminary investigations to determine whether the events reported constitute an offence.

10.Where an offence is found to have been committed, the Military Prosecution Service instigates criminal proceedings before a military judge, who, after analysing the charges, decides whether or not it is appropriate to bring the alleged culprit to trial.

11.If sufficient evidence to corroborate the probable guilt of the accused is considered to exist, the latter is brought to trial before the military judge who opened the case, in accordance with the rules of due process, taking into account all evidence submitted in defence and with the intervention of the public prosecutor.

12.Once the evidence submitted has been thoroughly examined and the various stages of the proceedings completed, the military judge or court martial members, as applicable, decide whether the defendant is innocent or guilty.

13.Of the 19 cases referred to above, 2 are still under consideration and 17 have been concluded. In 3 of these 17 cases, the alleged acts of torture were corroborated, leading the National Human Rights Commission to issue the relevant recommendations. The status of these recommendations is as follows.

Case no.	Recommendation	Status of the recommendation
2008/98-2	18/2009	Accepted with evidence of partial compliance
2008/887-2	13/2009	Accepted with evidence of partial compliance
2008/1270-1	67/2008	Accepted with evidence of partial compliance

Compensation for victims

14.When a recommendation formulated by the National Human Rights Commission is accepted by the Ministry of Defence and a human rights violation by military personnel is demonstrated, the Ministry of Defence requests the intervention of the internal control body of the Ministry of the Public Service and/or the Military Prosecution Service. In such cases, reparation is provided to the victims in accordance with the provisions of the Federal Act on Responsibility for Financial Injury.

15.Before and during the investigation of a complaint submitted to the National Human Rights Commission, the Ministry of Defence itself in many cases makes advance compensation payments in reparation for injury on the basis of, depending on the specific case, article 502 of the Federal Labour Act, articles 1913 to 1917 of the Federal Civil Code, or article 30 and article 32, section VI, of the Federal Criminal Code, and offers psychological and medical support to the victims and aggrieved parties related to the facts of the complaint.

Reform of the Code of Military Justice to include the crime of torture

16.The Code of Military Justice has not been reformed, but in accordance with article 57, section II (a) of the Code, the relevant Federal Act, which in this case is the Federal Act on the Prevention and Punishment of Torture, is applied by the competent authority.

Information on paragraph 16 of the conclusions and recommendations

Information on the medical examinations carried out for the purpose of completing the medical/psychological certificate of possible torture or ill-treatment, including in particular information on whether the medical personnel attached to the Attorney-General’s Office are federal employees or independent experts and whether there is a process for determining whether the medical/psychological certification procedure is observed

17.The Attorney-General’s Office has official medical experts, but paragraph 5 (e) of Agreement No. A/057/2003, issued by the Attorney-General in August 2003, also provides for the intervention of independent experts, as follows:

“… FIVE.- In order to ensure compliance with the preceding article, for the purpose of obtaining the express, informed consent of persons allegedly subjected to torture and/or ill-treatment before commencing the medical/psychological examination, the alleged victims must be informed of the following:

[…]

(e)Of their right to be examined by a legal or forensic medical expert and, if no such expert is available or if they so wish, by a doctor of their choice, in accordance with article 7 of the Federal Act on the Prevention and Punishment of Torture. These doctors must have the expertise necessary to complete the medical/psychological certificate of possible torture or ill-treatment.”

Implementation of the systematic procedure for conducting initial examinations of individuals detained by military personnel and how the procedure is initiated

18.Agreement No. A/057/2003 sets out the guidelines which the Federal prosecutors, legal and/or forensic medical experts and other personnel of the Federal Prosecution Service (Ministerio Público de la Federación) should apply in order to complete the medical/psychological certificate of possible torture or ill-treatment in accordance with the Istanbul Protocol. Under these guidelines, whenever the victim, the legal representative of the victim or any other person reports an act of torture, the Federal Prosecution Service is under an obligation to institute preliminary investigations into the alleged offence and will therefore immediately request a medical and psychological examination of the alleged victim, for purposes of completion of the aforementioned medical/psychological certificate of possible torture or ill-treatment, in accordance with the rules of the Istanbul Protocol.

19.Under the procedure employed by the Ministry of Defence, the bodily integrity of all detainees must be checked by a military doctor as soon as they are detained. In addition to their medical expertise, the military doctors have full cognizance of the procedure for implementation of the Istanbul Protocol.

20.Whenever a military doctor encounters evidence of possible acts of torture or ill-treatment, he must inform the investigating prosecutor of the facts immediately.

21.With regard to the procedure for processing complaints of torture adopted by the National Human Rights Commission, it should be noted that, whenever the Commission receives a complaint in which torture is the human rights violation invoked, the inspector assigned to investigate the complaint requests the intervention of the Inspectorate-General’s Expert Services Coordination Unit in order to ensure the presence of a specialized, multidisciplinary team during the interview and examination of the aggrieved person, as required in application of the principles of the Istanbul Protocol.

22.Upon arriving at the place in which the aggrieved party is to be interviewed, the members of the multidisciplinary team (usually a doctor, a psychologist and a lawyer) introduce themselves, inform the aggrieved party of the complaint and ask him whether he knows the person who made the submission or, in the event that the person submitted the complaint himself, whether he can identify and confirm his signature. The team members then proceed to explain the reason for their visit, and the scope and objective of application of the Istanbul Protocol. An official record is drawn up on the basis of these actions, which the aggrieved party is asked to sign in acceptance or otherwise of application of the Istanbul Protocol. Where minors are involved, the official record is signed by the minors’ parents or guardians. Lastly, the team members request permission to photograph and videotape the interviews.

23.The members of the multidisciplinary team themselves decide how much time should be spent interviewing and examining the aggrieved party based on the specific circumstances of each case.

24.The National Human Rights Commission thus has an official record of the interview with the aggrieved party prepared by the specialist, multidisciplinary team. Finally, the team analyses the results obtained and the evidence collected and issues a report incorporating medical and psychological opinions as to the support that should be provided to possible victims of ill-treatment and/or torture, based on the Manual on the Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Istanbul Protocol). These medical and psychological opinions are taken into account by the investigator, who then concludes and closes the case.

Workshops and training courses developed to extend implementation of the Istanbul Protocol

25.The Attorney-General’s Office is working to extend implementation of the Istanbul Protocol across the entire country by providing training for public officials attached to Offices of the State Attorney-General in all states of the country. The only state yet to receive training is Jalisco, where courses are due to be held in the near future.

26.To instil the culture of human rights and cement the human rights safeguards envisaged in the National Human Rights Programme for 2008–2012, training is also being provided to officers of the Federal Investigative Police. A total of 266 officers of that service have received human rights training to date, 151 of them in inter-institutional courses and 115 in internal courses, taking the total number of public officials to have received training to 523.

27.The Directorate-General for Human Rights of the Ministry of Public Security runs workshops and training courses aimed at preventing the use of torture in the discharge of public security duties and extending implementation of the Istanbul Protocol. The main channels for the provision of human rights training are the national programme for the promotion of human rights, in coordination with the National Human Rights Commission and the workshop on human rights and humanitarian principles in police work, in coordination with the International Committee of the Red Cross, as well as international courses, workshops, seminars and videoconferencing.

28.The main subject areas covered in this training include: legitimate use of force and firearms; maintenance of public order; arrest and detention; victim support; prevention of torture and the implementation of the Istanbul Protocol; international human rights law; and the human rights principles applicable to all persons subject to any form of detention or imprisonment.

29.Between 1 January 2006 and December 2008, the Ministry of Public Security ran 1,277 courses and workshops attended by 55,632 public officials, including officials working in the Ministry’s decentralized administrative agencies (the Federal Police Force and the Executive Secretariat of the National System for Public Security, Crime Prevention and Social Rehabilitation). Between January and May 2009, 56 courses and workshops attended by 7,980 public servants were organized by the Ministry.

30.To fulfil the aims of the National Human Rights Programme, the Ministry of Defence has implemented a Sectoral Human Rights Programme (SDN 2008–2012) which includes the following lines of action:

(a)The development and implementation, by the unit of the Ministry of Defence responsible for military justice, of a staff training programme encompassing various issues related to the prevention of torture;

(b)The development and implementation, by the Office of the Military Attorney-General, of a training programme designed to aid the prevention and elimination of the use of torture and aimed at all military personnel authorized to detain persons and all those working in places of detention, which conforms to, respects and applies the provisions of the Istanbul Protocol, the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and other international human rights instruments.

31.In addition, the Ministry of Defence is currently running the programme on the promotion and strengthening of human rights and international humanitarian law (SDN 2009), which deals with several issues related to the prevention of torture.

32.In 2008, the National Human Rights Commission gave courses as part of the Programme of Induction Training for agents of the Federal Investigative Police (2008 generation) run by the Federal Administration of Justice Training Service of the Attorney-General’s Office, in which one of the subjects covered was the prevention of torture.

33.Among the activities carried out by the National Human Rights Commission in coordination with the Attorney-General’s Office, within the framework of the Seminar on Support for Crime Victims, National Human Rights Commission trainers gave several talks on human rights subjects, including the prevention of torture, for officials of the Federal Prosecution Service, federal investigators and personnel attached to the Office of the Assistant Attorney-General for Human Rights, Victim Care and Community Services.

34.The National Human Rights Commission also engaged in activities in coordination with public human rights protection and defence bodies and institutes of higher education of various states of the Republic, which led to the graduation of 16 students in human rights under the heading of continuing education. The course modules included Torture and the Istanbul Protocol. Among the graduates were public officials in the administration of justice, public security, the armed forces and education at the three levels of government, parliamentary deputies and personnel, academics, investigators, students, and professionals and members of non-governmental organizations.

35.In 2008 and into 2009, the National Human Rights Commission continued to distribute its own guide to the Istanbul Protocol among members of the armed forces, officials of the administration of justice and those taking part in training courses organized by the Commission.

Clarification on the requirements and criteria used to decide whether the results of the medical/psychological certificate should be counted as evidence and to ensure that such evidence is assessed by a judge, and how the evidence is to be treated in court

36.At the federal level and in all federal bodies, torture is listed as a very serious offence. This means to say that from the time proceedings are initiated a suspect is no longer entitled to the benefit of pretrial release on bail, and so stands trial already deprived of liberty. All acts of torture are duly judged and punished by the relevant judicial authority.

37.It should be noted that the result of the medical/psychological certificate for cases of possible torture or ill-treatment forms part of the preliminary investigation and, if the person is brought to trial, will be evaluated by the judge together with the other evidence in the case.

38.In the Mexican system of criminal justice, the medical/psychological certificate for cases of possible torture or ill-treatment is considered circumstantial evidence, so that in its assessment the judicial authority must analyse and assess it in the light of the body of evidence available in the case. According to article 599 et seq. of the Code of Military Justice, the military judges are responsible for the assessment of evidence of a confessional, documentary, expert, testimonial or presumptive nature or evidence derived from judicial inspection.

Number of torture complaints received in 2008 and the manner in which they were investigated, tried and led to convictions, with details of compensation afforded to victims

39.In 2008, the Attorney-General’s Office recorded 13 cases altogether, of which 8 were concluded and 5 are still under way.

40.The National Human Rights Commission referred 11 of the complaints for alleged human rights violations consisting of torture to the Directorate-General of Human Rights of the Ministry of Public Security, issuing two special recommendations and two proposals for settlement, which are currently in the phase of implementation. The remaining two complaints have been considered by the Commission itself as concluded.

41.In 2008, the National Human Rights Commission recorded 21 complaints of torture. In 19 of these cases the Ministry of Defence was cited as the authority presumed to be responsible, while in the two remaining complaints responsibility was attributed to the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the State of Guanajuato and the City Council of Morelia (Michoacán).

42.Out of the 19 complaints filed against the Ministry of Defence, 2 complaints are currently being processed and 17 have been concluded (8 by recommendation, in cases where alleged acts of torture were confirmed). In these the National Human Rights Commission called for reparation in the form of psychological, medical and rehabilitation support such as to enable the victims to recover the physical and psychological condition that was theirs prior to the violation of their human rights. The substantive cases are currently being dealt with by the Office of the Military Attorney-General, which is taking into account the results of previous investigations where relevant.

Status of the planned model bill on the punishment of torture

43.The human rights programme of the Ibero-American University of Mexico is currently working on a draft of the bill, which should be ready for submission in 2010.

Information on paragraph 19 of the conclusions and recommendations

Clarification as to whether the nine officials of the State Security Agency, who were removed or suspended, were tried for the part they played as commanders in the San Salvador Atenco incidents

44.On this point, in the previous combined investigation into the Atenco case, it was decided not to initiate criminal proceedings against commanders for the incidents which occurred on 3 and 4 May 2006, so that any dismissals or suspensions were the outcome of administrative procedures initiated by the internal control body of the State Security Agency, on the grounds that the nine officials involved had tolerated violent treatment by their colleagues against persons with whom they had come into contact at the time of their transfer and whose physical security they had failed to ensure.

Number of members of the State Security Agency found guilty of participation in the crimes committed, including abuse of authority and sexual assault

45.As only one member of the State Security Agency was recognized by the victim as probably responsible for the offence of libidinous behaviour, it was decided to bring him to trial under criminal case No. 79/2006, in the First Criminal Court of First Instance of Tenango del Valle, State of Mexico.

46.At the moment five of the persons are being investigated for the offence of abuse of authority, under file No. 59/2006, in the First Criminal Court of First Instance of Tenango del Valle (State of Mexico), four of whom (Roberto Hernández Romero, Sergio Guillermo González Espinoza, Gustavo Salinas Pizano and Margarita Juana Bernal Nuñez) belong to the Municipal Police of Texcoco de Mora (State of Mexico) and one (José Martínez Galicia) is a member of the State Security Agency.

Outcomes of trials, including the penalties applied to those found guilty

47.The Office of the Attorney-General of the State of Mexico has reported that proceedings have been initiated, under case No. 59/2006, in the First Criminal Court of First Instance of the Judicial District of Tenango del Valle (State of Mexico) against five persons for the offence of abuse of authority.

48.With regard to case No. 79/2006, it was decided in an order dated 20 February 2009 that in accordance with the final amparo judgement in appeal case No. 411/2008 a new decision was handed down overturning the conviction by the First Criminal Court of First Instance of the Judicial District of Tenango del Valle (State of Mexico) of Doroteo Blas Marcelo for the offence of libidinous behaviour, perpetrated against Ana María Velasco Rodríguez, as follows: “[…] Doroteo Blas Marcelo is hereby found not guilty of the offence of libidinous behaviour and is acquitted and released herewith.”

Compensation offered to victims and access to mechanisms ensuring just and effective compensation

49.On 21 December 2006, the Government of the State of Mexico provided economic and financial assistance to Mr. Felipe de Cortés Sánchez in compensation for the loss of his younger son Javier Cortés Santiago, and a scholarship for his son Juan Cortés Santiago, for the duration of his studies until he obtains a degree. By the same occasion, economic support was provided for the family of the deceased Ollín Alexis Benhumea Hernández.

50.In dealing with crime victims, the Office of the Attorney-General of the State of Mexico is assisted by the Institute for the Care of Crime Victims, which is composed of a network of 42 Crime Victim Care Units. These are attached to the Specialized Agencies for Intra-family and Sexual Violence of the State Prosecutor and the Centres and Agencies of the Acting State Prosecutor, distributed strategically across the territory of the state.

Clarification regarding the figures for physical and psychological services rendered to women victims of sexual violence (the State of Mexico reports that it has provided 40,324 services to victims of domestic violence and 20,216 services to victims of sexual assault, but only 679 psychological diagnoses were made and only 1,376 psychological assessments prepared)

51.These figures reflect the legal, psychological and social welfare services provided to victims of offences in order to restore the highest degree of physical and emotional health through specific treatments or referral to specialized facilities.

52.Since in this system the victim of an offence may receive different types of treatment, the above figures represent an overall view of the legal, psychological and social services offered, including for example: psychotherapy sessions, accompanied visits to social welfare institutions, legal assistance and accompanied visits to the office of the public prosecutor and/or court where the trial is taking place. Every time personnel of the Institute for the Care of Crime Victims intervene it is counted as one item of care.

53.With regard to the treatment afforded to victims of the San Salvador Atenco incidents, the Institute for the Care of Crime Victims of the Office of the Attorney-General of the State of Mexico was asked by the First Criminal Court of First Instance of the Judicial District of Tenango del Valle (State of Mexico) to carry out a psychological diagnosis of Ms. Ana María Velasco Rodríguez in connection with criminal proceedings No. 79/2006. Ms. Velasco was visited at her home and asked to attend the Care of Crime Victims Unit of Texcoco to receive psychological treatment with a view to preparing the requested diagnosis. Ms. Velasco, however, did not appear.

54.Nevertheless, it is worth mentioning that in 2006 personnel of the Comprehensive Care Centre dealing with Violence against Women of the Office of the Special Prosecutor for offences related to acts of violence against women in the country (the institutional predecessor of the Office of the Special Prosecutor for Violent Crimes against Women and Trafficking in Persons), as well as medical experts, attended the Prevention and Rehabilitation Centre for Women of Santiaguito, in Almoloya de Juárez, Toluca (State of Mexico), in order to provide psychological and medical care to possible victims of the public security operations carried out in San Salvador Atenco (State of Mexico), who were held in the detention centre.

55.In 2008, the Office of the Special Prosecutor for Violent Crimes against Women and Trafficking in Persons granted 12 sessions of emotional support and one medical check-up to a woman detained at the Alfonso Quiróz Cuarón Social Readaptation Centre. That same year, five psychological support sessions were given to a woman residing in the municipality of San Salvador Atenco.

56.Between July and September 2008, the Office of the Special Prosecutor for Violent Crimes against Women and Trafficking in Persons undertook to locate 46 women living in the municipality of San Salvador Atenco and surrounding area, in order to inform them about and offer them the services provided by that Office. The women concerned, however, did not accept the support of the Special Prosecutor’s Office.

Clarification regarding the scope of legislation on acts of violence against women and the possible extension of the Special Prosecutor’s mandate to include crimes referred to in the Act on women’s access to a life free of violence or any other law specifically related to violence against women

57.On 4 September 2006, Agreement No. 24/2006 was published in the Gaceta of the Government of the State of Mexico, setting up the Office of the Special Prosecutor for Intentional Homicide perpetrated against Women and Offences related to Domestic and Sexual Violence, which is responsible for coordinating, supervising and following up preliminary investigations initiated for those types of offences.

58.In addition, article 51 of the Act on women’s access to a life free of violence of the State of Mexico specifies the competence of the Office of the Attorney-General of the State of Mexico in matters of prevention, care, punishment and eradication of violence against women and girls.

Information on paragraph 20 of the conclusions and recommendations

Number of cases of violence against women in Ciudad Juárez which have been investigated and tried, and the outcomes of the trials, including information about sentences and compensation offered to victims

59.With regard to cases of violence against women in Ciudad Juárez (Chihuahua), in 2008 the National Human Rights Commission submitted its second report on its comprehensive assessment of actions by the three branches of Government to deal with homicides against women in the municipality of Ciudad Juárez (Chihuahua), in which it gave an account of the follow-up action taken in response to the proposals made in the Special Report of 25 November 2003. The text of that report may be consulted at the address: www.cndh.org.mx/lacndh/informes/2infsegjuarez.pdf.

60.According to the guidelines of the Economic Support Fund for Families of Female Murder Victims in the Municipality of Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, the State of Mexico will provide such economic support for the families of women victims. This is not intended to replace the obligation of the alleged perpetrator to compensate and repair the damage, but provides economic support to these families as a form of public assistance based on the principle of social solidarity.

61.Altogether 179 requests were received from the families of female victims of homicide in Ciudad Juárez, authorized by the Council responsible for implementing the Economic Support Fund at the time of the 12th Ordinary Session held on 24 January 2009. So far 424 persons who are indirect victims have received benefits, including the children, spouses and parents of the female victims. On 5 July 2008, more than 32 million pesos were paid out under the heading of economic support.

Clarification regarding the scope of measures taken to fully implement the recommendations put forward by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and how those measures have affected the level of violence against women in Ciudad Juárez

62.The Ministry of Public Security, through the General Directorate of Civic Integration and Participation, is conducting a number of activities to prevent gender violence, including the following actions in 2009:

(a)38 workshops on gender violence prevention in Aguascalientes, Chiapas, Chihuahua, Distrito Federal, Durango, Guanajuato, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Nayarit, Oaxaca, Puebla, Quintana Roo, Sinaloa, Tabasco, Veracruz and Yucatán;

(b)16 training workshops on gender perspective in the new political model in Guerrero, Michoacán, Morelos, Nuevo León, San Luis Potosí and Sinaloa.

63.In Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, the measures taken to prevent discrimination against women included workshops and talks on the prevention of violence against women, which were targeted at female workers of the maquiladoras CEPIA (Centro Profesional de Ingenieros y Arquitectos), EES ETHICON, and Saturn Electrónics of Ciudad Juárez.

64.The Directorate-General of Human Rights of the Ministry of Public Security also runs the Comprehensive System of Services for Crime Victims, whose aim is to provide specialized, multidisciplinary assistance to victims of crime, abuse of authority and violence, to seek reparation, empowerment and the recovery of the victim, and to prevent further victimization.

65.Between 1 January and 14 July 2009, the system provided legal, psychological and paramedical first aid assistance to 4,794 women, who included 145 cases of victims of domestic violence and 285 cases related to prevention for vulnerable groups. Legal guidance services to victims were provided in all court proceedings dealing with sexual and domestic violence, thanks to which victims were assisted throughout their criminal or civil court proceedings.

66.The Module of Care for Victims located in the premises of the Mexican Red Cross, as part of the above-mentioned Comprehensive System, worked with a self-help group through which 1,021 services were provided in 18 sessions and one workshop, for the children of victims, and on the Human Rights of Children in 10 sessions and 87 services.

67.On 30 September 2008, the Ministry of Public Security took over the National Data and Information Bank on Cases of Violence against Women (BANAVIM):

(a)The data bank is currently in a trial phase. For this trial phase and in order to familiarize users of the national system for preventing, attending, punishing and eradicating violence against women with the data bank, the secretariat issued provisional user keys;

(b)The guidelines for determining and entering data bank information issued by the Ministry of Public Security were published in the Diario Oficial de la Federación on 16 April 2009;

(c)On 4 June 2009, the General Coordination of the Mexico Platform and the General Directorate of Civic Integration and Participation trained personnel of the Comprehensive System of Care for Victims of the Directorate-General of Human Rights in the use of data bank software (technical requirements of the system, access policies, reception, entry, use and handling of information needed for the various search criteria and reports issued through the one-stop window).

68.Lastly, we annex an informative table prepared by the National Commissioner for the Prevention and Eradication of Violence against Women, in order to clarify the scope of measures taken to fully implement the recommendations put forward by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.