An Analysis of the Human Rights Violations in Mexico

Originally written : September 11, 2022

By Abigail Pereira

Since 2006, the Mexican government has been giving more and more control to the army and navy. With this increasing control over public security, the military has been abusing the human rights of civilians under the pretext of “war on drugs” that has been ongoing in Mexico. In the past 16 years, Mexico has become an even more dangerous country; there has been a 216% increase in killings. Journalists and human rights activists who publicly reveal the underhanded dealings of officials and criminal cartels face surveillance and attacks.

The National Guard has recently been granted further militarization by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. He proposed the following legislative reforms:

1. The Secretary of National Defense will preside over the National Guard with military control.

2. Military personnel are able to serve the National Guard without leaving their posts.

3. High-ranking commanders of the National Guard must come from military posts.

4. Crimes and human rights violations by the National Guard will not be tried before civilian courts, but military courts.

This has resulted in the crimes and human rights violations committed by the National Guard to go unpunished. Hundreds of thousands of people have disappeared and the National Human Rights Commission has received thousands of complaints of human rights violations.

The UN’s many bodies, including the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, have beseeched Mexico to build up civilian forces and create a plan for the safe withdrawal of the military from public security, all of which have been dismissed. The numbers of enforced disappearances, randomized detentions, torture, and mass murders have been brought before the National Human Rights Commission. The legislative reforms have resulted in treaty violations and are unconstitutional according to the Mexican Constitution.

Those seeking to flee these conditions are only able to seek asylum in the United States. However, even migration officials have been discovered to work for the National Guard. When detained by the National Guard, most people are sent to unsanitary and crowded immigration detention centers. Additionally, those who travel through Mexico to seek asylum are often targeted by criminal cartels for violent crimes such as murder, theft, extortion, rape, or kidnappings, and the cartels are supported by officials.

Citations

Gamero, Alejandro Juárez, and Duncan Tucker. “Militarization of Public Security Will Lead to More Human Rights Violations in Mexico.” Amnesty International, September 9, 2022.

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/09/mexico-militarizing-public-security-human-rights-violations-impunity/.

Roth, Kenneth. “World Report 2021: Rights Trends in Mexico.” Human Rights Watch, January 13, 2021.

https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2021/country-chapters/mexico.

EneasMx. Marcha Por Rubén Espinosa, Fotoperiodista Asesinado. August 2, 2015. Wikimedia Commons.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Marcha_por_Rub%C3%A9n_Espinosa,_fotoperiodista_asesinado.jpg.