sexual violence as torture, especially from women who are currently imprisoned. Finally, the mechanism is designed to propose public policies to prevent and combat sexual violence as torture against women. During the months since its establishment, the mechanism has been slow in making progress on the just three cases that it currently has on file, starting with the case of Verónica Razo which was supposed to be reviewed in October 2015. The mechanism in theory is able to receive any cases of sexual violence as torture, yet to date has made no concrete efforts to widen the reach of its work. In addition, there is no formalized process by which the federal judiciary is to be involved in this mechanism, in order to fully address the cycle of impunity and ensure follow up on cases where women have been falsely accused based on confessions extracted under torture, or where judges have ordered investigations arising from torture allegations. Independent psychologists and medical experts on torture are also missing from the mechanism. Furthermore, despite the fact that the body is designed to propose public policy to prevent and combat torture, to date it has not carried out any actions in line with this goal, such as communicating on the issue with the Federal Police, Army and Navy in regards to the oversight measures in place on this issue. Finally, when Amnesty International spoke to the Special Unit on Torture of the PGR it was not aware of this mechanism, suggesting a lack of coordination within the PGR. This mechanism presents an important opportunity to make advances on the issue of torture of women. It can function as a task force that works to accelerate a number of issues, such as the rapid deployment of medical and psychological experts in cases where women denounce sexual violence and the coordination of efforts to investigate possible perpetrators. If the government is serious about this mechanism, it must ensure it has adequate resources, all relevant institutions fully collaborate with it and its decisions are adequately followed up by those who must implement them.
sexual violence as torture, especially from women who are currently imprisoned. Finally, the mechanism is designed to propose public policies to prevent and combat sexual violence as torture against women. During the months since its establishment, the mechanism has been slow in making progress on the just three cases that it currently has on file, starting with the case of Verónica Razo which was supposed to be reviewed in October 2015. The mechanism in theory is able to receive any cases of sexual violence as torture, yet to date has made no concrete efforts to widen the reach of its work. In addition, there is no formalized process by which the federal judiciary is to be involved in this mechanism, in order to fully address the cycle of impunity and ensure follow up on cases where women have been falsely accused based on confessions extracted under torture, or where judges have ordered investigations arising from torture allegations. Independent psychologists and medical experts on torture are also missing from the mechanism. Furthermore, despite the fact that the body is designed to propose public policy to prevent and combat torture, to date it has not carried out any actions in line with this goal, such as communicating on the issue with the Federal Police, Army and Navy in regards to the oversight measures in place on this issue. Finally, when Amnesty International spoke to the Special Unit on Torture of the PGR it was not aware of this mechanism, suggesting a lack of coordination within the PGR. This mechanism presents an important opportunity to make advances on the issue of torture of women. It can function as a task force that works to accelerate a number of issues, such as the rapid deployment of medical and psychological experts in cases where women denounce sexual violence and the coordination of efforts to investigate possible perpetrators. If the government is serious about this mechanism, it must ensure it has adequate resources, all relevant institutions fully collaborate with it and its decisions are adequately followed up by those who must implement them.