Human Rights Issues in Mexico

By Carlos Gómez (Mexico).

Hello everyone, im gonna post an old article i write a few months ago and send it to the yahoogroups, is about some human rights issues happening in Mexico, is a little old so i didnt mention Oaxaca, but that's the theme for another article.

HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES IN MEXICO

Mexico has more than one hundred million habitants, it’s a country with a rich culture of thousands of years, we try to move on a globalizated world, with new technology, new discovers, a whole new way of thinking.

We are trying, but there is something that cannot let us move forward. A man can evolve only if he knows how to interact with others human beings. The intolerance, the discrimination don’t let us become a better country,

Honestly I don’t know where to start, every issue is important. The intrafamiliar violence is an issue that has been there like forever, this kind of violence is refer to all ways or situations of abuse or battered of any member of a family to another. The risk sectors of the family are the women, the children and the elderly people. There is a lot of causes, but the common cause may be the called “machismo”, ill explain the typical example of abuse, the father thinks he is the owner of the children and the wife, and so he believes he has the right to mistreat them. This is a vicious circle, the husband mistreat (in many possible ways) the wife, this can contain serious problems like alcoholism, then the wife tire of being abuse, discharge all her courage on the children, the children grows up thinking that is how life is, so he gets married and has children, and it goes on…

The education is the solution to this terrible problem, make stronger bonds between the members of the family. Actually the members of the families that suffer this problem can go the special agency of the government to solve the problem. A well know agency is the DIF (Sistema Nacional para el Desarrollo Integral de la Familia - National System for the Integral Development of the Family), this agency gives social attendance to this people.

Also NGO’s gives this kind of attention, like the CNDH (Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos – National Commission of the Human Rights), who cares about all Human Rights, from Children Rights to Prisoners Rights.

Another issue in Mexico is the migration, the immigrants rights, both mexicans going to USA and other people coming to Mexico. These immigrants most of them illegal suffer a lot of injustice during their way to USA. People who gives “rides” to the north border abuse of these people stealing their money. And also the police who catch them steal and abuse them.

There is the INAMI (Instituto Nacional de Migración – National Institute of Migration) cares about the dignity and the rights of the immigrants.

A big issue is about the murders of women in Ciudad Juarez (in the north border with el Paso, Texas). It has been more than 10 years when in 1993 the police found a woman that was reported as “dissappear”, dead in a place near Ciudad Juarez. More than 400 women has been murder and more than 600 has dissappear. No one can tell who kills these women, and why, there has been people arrested but even then the murders dont stop. A civil association called “Nuestras hijas de regreso a casa A.C” (Our daughters returning home) was created by the mothers of all those girls that has been killed or kidnapped.

The violation of the human rights by the public security forces (police) is a common topic. Recent events like the one in the community called “San Salvador Atenco”, when more than 4000 cops made a violent operation to evacuate landlords in order to evacuate them to build an airport in the lands.

The problem of who is the owner of the lands, the people from the community or the government is very complex. More than 200 people were arrested.

After these people were liberated, they denounce acts of sexual agressions againts the women, and torture against the men by the police.

These are the main issues in Mexico that has been on the news for several months and years, but there are some more hidden, and i think is our duty to find them and denounce them.

Bibliography:

www.cndh.org.mx - National Comission of Human Rights
www.inami.gob.mx - National Institute of Migration
www.dif.gob.mx - Integral Development of the Family
www.mujeresdejuarez.org
www.violenciaintrafamiliar.org