Human Rights and Public Security in Mexico

The Role of Surveillance Technologies

Abstract

Human rights violations by security and justice institutions are relevant because they are usually extremely serious and can cause irreversible damage, as in the cases of extrajudicial executions, arbitrary detention, torture, among other types of violence. In Mexico, they have historically represented a high number of cases registered by Public Human Rights Organizations. This text studies the role of public and private surveillance technologies as devices that generate evidence and have become means for the documentation of human rights violations. The main source of analysis is the 146 recommendations issued by the Comisión Nacional de los Derechos Humanos (National Human Rights Commission) in 2021, in which it is possible to study the characteristics of the videos and the narratives and practices of the victims and the authorities around this visual evidence. Among the conclusions, the relevance of this evidence for the integration of the recommendations is specified, particularly in those that link security and justice institutions. However, based on the findings, it is discussed how to enhance the generation, use and opinion of this evidence, as well as the possibility that these technologies bring-represent both for the protection and for the violation of Human Rights.