Mexico's Human Rights Crisis

Alejandro Anaya-Muñoz (Edited by), Barbara Frey (Edited by)

9780812251074

Hardback, published 11 January 2019

344 pages, 15 illus.
22.9 x 15.2 x 3 cm, 0.68 kg

"In providing a mix of concrete data and exemplary cases, Mexico's Human Rights Crisis advances our understanding of the dimensions, drivers, and responses to one of the leading human rights problems of our time." (Alison Brysk, University of California, Santa Barbara) "A welcome and comprehensive volume. Mexico's Human Rights Crisis addresses the central analytical and empirical issues with a multidisciplinary perspective that is sorely needed." (Jonathan Fox, American University)

Lawless elements are ascendant in Mexico, as evidenced by the operations of criminal cartels engaged in human and drug trafficking, often with the active support or acquiescence of government actors. The sharp increase in the number of victims of homicide, disappearances and torture over the past decade is unparalleled in the country's recent history. According to editors Alejandro Anaya-MuÑoz and Barbara Frey, the "war on drugs" launched in 2006 by President Felipe CalderÓn and the corrupting influence criminal organizations have on public institutions have empowered both state and nonstate actors to operate with impunity. Impunity, they argue, is the root cause that has enabled a human-rights crisis to flourish, creating a climate of generalized violence that is carried out, condoned, or ignored by the state and precluding any hope for justice.
Mexico's Human Rights Crisis offers a broad survey of the current human rights issues that plague Mexico. Essays focus on the human rights consequences that flow directly from the ongoing "war on drugs" in the country, including violence aimed specifically at women, and the impunity that characterizes the government's activities. Contributors address the violation of the human rights of migrants, in both Mexico and the United States, and cover the domestic and transnational elements and processes that shape the current human rights crisis, from the state of Mexico's democracy to the influence of rulings by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights on the decisions of Mexico's National Supreme Court of Justice. Given the scope, the contemporaneity, and the gravity of Mexico's human rights crisis, the recommendations made in the book by the editors and contributors to curb the violence could not be more urgent.
Contributors: Alejandro Anaya-MuÑoz, Karina Ansolabehere, Ariadna EstÉvez, Barbara Frey, Janice Gallagher, Rodrigo GutiÉrrez Rivas, Susan Gzesh, Sandra HincapiÉ, Catalina PÉrez Correa, Laura Rubio DÍaz-Leal, Natalia Saltalamacchia, Carlos Silva FornÉ, Regina TamÉs, Javier TreviÑo-Rangel, Daniel VÁzquez, Benjamin James Waddell.

List of Abbreviations
Introduction
-Alejandro Anaya-MuÑoz and Barbara Frey
PART I. THE CRISIS UNFOLDS
Chapter 1. Deadly Forces: Use of Lethal Force by Mexican Security Forces 2007-2015
-Catalina PÉrez Correa, Carlos Silva FornÉ, and Rodrigo GutiÉrrez Rivas
Chapter 2. Violence-Induced Internal Displacement in Mexico, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and Official State Responses
-Laura Rubio DÍaz-Leal
Chapter 3. Women's Human Rights in the Armed Conflict in Mexico: Organized Crime, Collective Action, and State Responses
-Sandra HincapiÉ
Chapter 4. The Invisible Violence Against Women in Mexico-Regina TamÉs
PART II. THE CRISIS FOR MIGRANTS
Chapter 5. Superfluous Lives: Undocumented Migrants Traveling in Mexico
-Javier TreviÑo-Rangel
Chapter 6. Emigration, Violence, and Human Rights Violations in Central Mexico
-Benjamin James Waddell
Chapter 7. Bridging Legal Geographies: Contextual Adjudication in Mexican Asylum Claims
-Ariadna EstÉvez
Chapter 8. Mexican Asylum Seekers and the Convention Against Torture
-Susan Gzesh
PART III. THE INSTITUTIONAL CRISIS
Chapter 9. Democracia a la Mexicana: A Framework Conducive to Human Rights Violations
-Daniel VÁzquez
Chapter 10. Factors Blocking the Compliance with International Human Rights Normsin Mexico
-Alejandro Anaya-MuÑoz and Natalia Saltalamacchia
Chapter 11. Human Rights and Justice in Mexico: An Analysis of Judicial Functions
-Karina Ansolabehere
Chapter 12. The Judicial Breakthrough Model: Transnational Advocacy Networks and Lethal Violence
-Janice Gallagher