U.N. Releases Controversial Study on Mexican Judicial System

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In a study that attracted a storm of controversy in Mexico, a UN judicial specialist concluded that corruption remains widespread in the Mexican court system despite reforms approved in the early 1990s. The report, presented to the Human Rights Commission in Geneva in early April, was prepared by Param Cumaraswamy, a special UN investigator on the independence of judges and lawyers.

Cumaraswamy's report said corrupt practices affect "more than half" of the Mexican justice system, attorneys, and judges. Furthermore, the report noted, civil matters cannot be processed in some states without the payment of a bribe.

The UN legal expert said the system remains corrupt partly because the constitutional changes introduced eight years ago had not done enough to improve the system.

"The transformation process since 1994 has been slow, and impunity and corruption appear to have continued unabated, Cumaraswamy said. " …