E/CN.4/2003/85/Add.2 page 9 On a number of occasions, migrants who were being attacked were allegedly forced to go to isolated spots where they were made to undress and were insulted, mocked and threatened with violence or death if they complained or resisted. The Special Rapporteur heard stories of women who were sexually abused and raped by the criminals in front of their husbands. 19. There have also been reports of abuse by a number of public officials. Most of the migrants interviewed said they were blackmailed when they were caught, sometimes by public officials. One Nicaraguan detained in the Social Rehabilitation Centre in Tapachula explained to the Special Rapporteur that he had been falsely accused of theft for trying to stop his wife from being raped by police officers. In addition, the officers stripped the couple and their baby and took the money they had hidden in the baby’s shoe. Some of the migrants said there appeared to be some kind of complicity between the people-smugglers, who are also known as “coyotes” or “polleros”, and the criminals who attacked them and/or the police officers who extorted money from them. The Special Rapporteur was very concerned to observe the prevailing climate of impunity, in which violations of the rights of men and women migrants occur very quickly and go unreported. 20. With regard to reported abuses by public officials, the Special Rapporteur noted how very difficult it was for migrants to identify the institution for which the alleged aggressor worked, let alone his rank or name. Their lack of knowledge of the country and of its different police forces probably adds to this difficulty. However, the Special Rapporteur observed that when migrants did identify the police force involved, most of them mentioned the municipal police forces, the Judicial Police or the Federal Preventive Police. Abuses in the context of smuggling and trafficking in persons by criminal groups or networks 21. Migrants also told the Special Rapporteur about cases of fraud and even kidnapping committed by smugglers at both the northern and southern borders. When they kidnapped a migrant, the criminals would make contact with his or her relatives and the migrant would only be released and allowed to continue the journey to the north if money was paid. Migrants who need help from smugglers to get across the border pay up to US$ 1,500 each and run the risk of being abandoned and/or abused by the smugglers during the crossing. Women and unaccompanied children are particularly vulnerable to this kind of abuse. 22. During talks with NGOs and migrants, the Special Rapporteur was told that there are in Mexico a number of powerful networks of people-smugglers handling large sums of money. She observed the growing concern of the federal authorities themselves in the face of the expansion of smuggling networks that operate all along the route from the migrants’ countries of origin to their country of destination, passing through the various countries of transit in a complex network of smugglers, drivers, people providing accommodation, guides, forgers of identity documents and some public officials. The sensitive task of dismantling criminal organizations of this size poses a huge challenge to Mexico, especially given the large amounts of money involved in the activity. 23. The Special Rapporteur was told about the Mexican authorities’ efforts to combat the serious problem of corruption. In particular, she was told that campaigns are being organized by