Pilot activity in Mexico

— a focus on ill-treatment of persons by security forces in the Federal District (Mexico City).

The Metagora activity in Mexico seeks to measure the incidence of acts of ill-treatment on behalf of public authorities in the capital city. It is implemented by Fundar.

Study to take place in the Distrito Federal (Mexico City)
This study will be carried out in the Distrito Federal. The capital city is a very interesting case due to its importance in terms of inhabitants and as the centre of the federal government. Moreover, a crime control strategy based on the model of Guiliani's New York scheme 'Zero Tolerance' policy is currently being implemented there, and existing studies show that the Distrito Federal is not only the entity with the highest incidence of crime in Mexico, but also the place where most people suffer not only one but various crimes.

Open population as target population
In the framework of this study, a survey will be applied to open population as target population. One of the aims of this study is to obtain information and data on a largely recognised but also extremely under-reported phenomenon: acts of ill-treatment on behalf of public authorities. Current information shows that various, and not just one section of the population, are affected by this phenomenon. The idea is thus to gather information on the problem as a whole, instead of focusing on one group in particular which would result in excluding all others. The application of

Human rights groups participating in the formulation of the questionnaire, Distrito Federal, Mexico

the survey to an open population will provide information on the incidence of ill-treatment as a social phenomenon. Moreover, depending on the results obtained, it will then be possible to focus on specific groups of the population.

Focus on the theme of ill-treatment
With regard to the topic of the activity, it will be focusing on acts of ill-treatment on behalf of forces of public security and in the procurement of justice, be they common and light violations or severe and rare ones. The analysis will take into account a wide range of acts of ill-treatment as well as public authorities involved: i.e. acts of ill-treatment that go from that committed by a policemen or a member of the military, be it in the street or at someone's home, to that committed by an agent of public security forces in a patrol car, police station or at the Ministerio Público, etc. The idea is to consider ill-treatment as such (collecting information on its characteristics and victims), as well as the moments when it takes place and the conditions in which it happens.