The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, is concluding a weeklong visit to Mexico, where she expressed concern over abuse of citizens by police and soldiers fighting organized crime groups. The major effort against drug cartels and other criminal organizations that began shortly after Mexican President Felipe Calderon took office in December, 2006, has now claimed around 40,000 lives. Experts say ending official corruption and impunity is the biggest challenge the government faces in trying to win the war.
联合国人权事务高级专员纳维·皮莱即将结束对墨西哥为期一周的访问，她对该国警察和军人在打击有组织犯罪集团的过程中践踏人权表示忧虑。墨西哥总统卡尔德龙2006年12月就任后不久展开了打击贩毒集团和其它犯罪组织的行动，这一行动目前已造成约4万人死亡。专家表示杜绝官方腐败和有罪不罚现象是墨西哥政府在缉毒战中面临的最大挑战。
On her visit to Mexico, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay looked into problems including abuse of migrants and women. In a meeting with President Calderon, Pillay mentioned allegations against police and military forces in the war on drug traffickers.
在访问墨西哥时，联合国人权事务高级专员纳维·皮莱调查的问题包括，践踏移民和妇女的权利。在与墨西哥总统卡尔德龙会晤时，皮莱提到了警察和军人在缉毒行动中受到的指责。
"I view with concern the increasing reports of human rights violations attributed to state agents in the fight against organized crime," Pillay said.
她说：“我看到越来越多的报导说，在打击有组织犯罪的战斗中国家安全人员存在违反人权的行为，我对此感到担忧。”
She said authorities should not view respect for human rights as an obstacle, but as part of the solution in combating crime.
皮莱表示，当局不应将尊重人权看作一种障碍，而应该把它当作打击犯罪的一种办法。
President Calderon responded that the worst abusers of human rights in Mexico are the criminal gangs that have tortured, mutilated and killed thousands of people. The drug cartels are fighting the government and each other as they compete for lucrative smuggling routes and drug profits.
卡尔德龙总统回应说，墨西哥最恶劣的人权践踏者是那些折磨、打伤和打死数千民众的犯罪团伙。贩毒集团与政府作斗争，贩毒集团互相之间为了争夺走私路线和毒品盈利也在斗争。
At the inauguration of a new criminal investigation laboratory, supported in part by funds from the United States, President Calderon spoke of the need for reform and modernization of police forces.
在由美国部分出资金兴建的一个犯罪调查实验室的启动仪式上，卡尔德龙总统谈到改革警察部队和使其现代化的必要性。
Calderon said human rights are protected when police use evidence to prove their case rather than confessions that might be made under duress.
他说，当警方用证据证明犯罪事实，而不是嫌疑人在胁迫下招供时，人权就受到了保护。
Human rights groups complain that, in far too many cases, police without proper investigative skills detain suspects and torture them until they confess.
人权组织抱怨说，有太多的案例显示，警方在缺乏正确调查技能的情况下扣押和折磨犯罪嫌疑人直到他们招供。
But President Calderon also condemned faults in the system that have allowed criminals to escape justice.
但卡尔德龙总统也指责司法系统犯下错误，让犯罪分子逃脱法律制裁。
Calderon added that as long as criminals get away with crimes and go unpunished they will continue their illegal operations. He said Mexico must break the vicious cycle of impunity that allows transnational criminal organizations to operate.
他说，犯罪分子只要逃脱、未受惩罚，他们就会继续胡作非为。墨西哥必须打破有罪不罚、让跨国犯罪组织继续运作的恶性循环。
To circumvent corrupt police, Calderon has used military forces against the powerful drug cartels. But deploying soldiers while trying to protect human rights is problematic, according to Mexico expert George Grayson of the College of William and Mary.
为了避免使用腐败的警察，卡尔德龙动用军事力量打击有权势的毒品集团。但是墨西哥问题专家、美国威廉与玛丽学院的教授乔治·格雷森认为，动用军人而同时要设法保护人权，是成问题的。
"Mexico has never, never had an honest, reliable, professional police force and this goes back to colonial times," Grayson noted. "So Calderon had no choice, when he found areas of the country dominated by cartels, but to use the military and the military is trained to pursue, to capture, to kill and, in the process, there is often collateral damage of civilians."
他说：“墨西哥从来都没有一个诚实、可靠和专业的警察部队，这可以追溯到殖民时期。所以卡尔德龙别无选择，当他发现被犯罪集团控制的地区时，只好动用军人，而军人是被训练来追踪、抓获和杀戮，在执行行动的过程中，通常附带有平民死伤。”
There have been many complaints from human rights activists about military abuses, but many citizens in violence-wracked areas often see soldiers as their only defense against the well-armed criminal gangs.
人权活动人士有很多关于军人践踏人权的抱怨，但在充斥暴力的地区的许多民众常常把军人作为他们抵御武装犯罪团伙的唯一力量。
Citizen attitudes about police in Mexico may be part of the problem. Surveys have shown that Mexicans have little respect for their police and that paying small bribes to avoid such inconveniences as a traffic ticket is still common practice in much of the country. Mexican police are usually paid little and given only minimal training.
墨西哥民众对警察的态度可能是问题的一部分。调查显示，墨西哥人对他们的警察几乎毫不尊重，在该国大部分地区，为了避免交通罚单等而向警察行贿仍是很普遍的现象。墨西哥警察通常工资很低，训练极差。
For the government to tackle such problems it will need public support in both spiritual and material terms. George Grayson says Mexicans in the upper and middle classes, who have been absent from this effort, need to do more and pay more.
墨西哥政府为了应对这些问题，将需要公众提供精神和物质两方面的支持。威廉与玛丽学院的乔治·格雷森说，墨西哥的上层和中产阶级需要付出更多。
"The elite pay little in taxes, about 10 percent of gross domestic product," Grayson added. "To give you an idea, Brazil pays 33 percent of gross domestic product in terms of taxes. Without more taxes you cannot have job creation programs, you cannot engage in regional development, you cannot restructure the public school system, you cannot improve health delivery services and, as a result, 40 percent of Mexicans live in poverty."
他说：“这些精英们交的税很少，只占国内生产总值的大约10%。给你们一个参考，巴西的税收收入占国内生产总值的33%。没有更多的税收收入，就不能开展创造就业项目，就不能从事地区开发，不能重建公立学校体系，不能改善医疗递送服务，结果就是，墨西哥40%的人生活贫困。”
Part of the reason wealthy Mexicans pay so little in taxes is the government's reliance on revenues from the state-owned oil sector, which cover about a third of the federal budget. But Mexico's oil reserves are in decline and President Calderon has had limited success in opening the sector to foreign investment. So that issue, like the drug war and the effort to curb human rights abuses, will await the person who succeeds Calderon after next year's presidential election.
墨西哥富人交税很少的部分原因是，政府依赖国有石油部门的收入，这部分收入占联邦预算的大约三分之一。但墨西哥的的石油储备在下降，卡尔德龙总统在向外国投资者开放国有石油部门方面做的有限。 |