The overwhelming issue affecting Mexican society is undoubtedly the increase in violence and homicides since 2006. According to the General Attorney’s Office (Procuraduría General de la República-PGR), there were 12,456 homicides in 2010, and a cumulative of 30,196 homicides since December 2006 when Felipe Calderón became president of Mexico and deployed military forces to combat drug cartels.
The number of deaths in 2010 represents 41.2% of the total number of homicides since 2006, thus 2010 represents the worst year in violence experienced by the Mexicans. In Ciudad Juarez the number of homicides for 2010 is expected to surpass 3,100.
Recent reports of mass abduction of Central American migrants have prompted the governments of Guatemala and El Salvador to call on the Mexican government for accountability for the treatment of migrants crossing Mexico. More info in Amnesty International's 2014 human rights report on Mexico
AI continues to receive reports of serious human rights violations committed by members of the military. Federal, state and municipal police forces also continue to commit serious human rights violations in several states. Women experience high levels of gender-based violence with little access to justice. Irregular migrants are at high risk of abduction and murder, by criminal gangs and abuse and extortion by corrupt Mexican officials. Women migrants are often raped. Journalists and human rights defenders are killed, harassed or face fabricated criminal charges. Marginalized communities whose lands are sought for economic development are at risk of harassment, forced eviction or denial of their right to adequate information and consultation.
Defending human rights can be a life-threatening job in Mexico. Scores of activists have suffered death threats, intimidation, and harassment in the last few years. Some of them have been killed for doing their job. The authorities have recognized that adopting and implementing an effective and comprehensive protection programme (mecanismo de protección), as requested by human rights defenders, is paramount. However, they are yet to fulfill their promise.
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights has issued ground-breaking rulings against Mexico in several cases involving grave human rights violations. The Court reiterated Mexico’s obligation – still not discharged – to stop applying military justice when investigating and prosecuting members of the army for human rights violations. The Inter-American Court already laid down the obligation to amend the Military Justice Code to this end in its judgment of November 2009 on the Radilla Pacheco case. The Court also reiterated that Mexican judges have a duty to ensure that their rulings comply with inter-American jurisprudence. The Court has judgments on 7 Mexican cases since 2004, three of them in 2010.
The cost of curing: Health workers’ rights in the Americas during COVID-19 and beyond documents how those on the forefront of the pandemic are often working in unsafe conditions with insufficient protective equipment and risk reprisals from authorities or employers if they speak out, while some have even suffered death threats and physical attacks. The report also calls on governments to ensure safe working conditions for cleaners and other support staff who are at risk due to their work in healthcare facilities and nursing homes.
Amnesty International sent an open letter today to the Undersecretary of Prevention and the Promotion of Health, Dr Hugo López-Gatell Ramírez, the maximum authority on the response to COVID-19 in the country, to express its concerns about the lack of protection of the health of migrants and people in need of international protection in Mexico.
Authorities in a number of countries across the Americas, including Canada, the United States, Mexico, Curaçao, and Trinidad and Tobago, among others, are detaining migrants and asylum seekers in a dangerous and discriminatory manner based solely on their migration status, Amnesty International said today. In doing so, they are pushing people into unhygienic and unsafe environments, contrary to international human rights and public health guidelines.
Responding to the United States announcement that the country will imminently close its border with Mexico and Canada, Charanya Krishnaswami, the Advocacy Director for the Americas at Amnesty International USA, …
Responding to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit’s ruling upholding the preliminary injunction halting the Trump administration’s so-called “Remain in Mexico” policy — under which the U.S. …
As millions took to the streets to protest rampant violence, inequality, corruption and impunity, or were forced to flee their countries in search of safety, states across the Americas clamped …
As the Supreme Court of the United States prepares to hear arguments on February 25 in the case of United States v. Sineneng-Smith, on whether to strike down as unconstitutional a …
In response to the decision by the National Institute of Migration (INM) to temporarily suspend access by all religious associations and NGOs to the country's migration detention centers, which was denied hours later by the Ministry of the Interior, Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International, said:
Wednesday, January 29 marks one year since the Trump administration implemented an unprecedented program disingenuously titled the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), also known as “Remain in Mexico,” under which the …
Climate change leads as one of the most important issues facing the world, according to a major new survey of young people published by Amnesty International today to mark Human Rights Day.