Monday, December 19, 2011
Amnesty International: Mexico is Still Not Protecting Migrants
15 December 2011 - The Mexican government has failed to live up to its promise to protect migrants from widespread
human rights abuses, Amnesty International said today, ahead of International Migrants Day on Sunday 18 December.
In the past year alone, the organization has documented numerous cases where Central American migrants travelling
through Mexico have been kidnapped, tortured, raped, killed and disappeared by criminal gangs, often with the complicity of
public officials.
Migrants' rights defenders have also come under
unprecedented attack.
"Despite the Mexican government's promise of change, systematic abuses against migrants
continue unabated with laws and other official measures having little or no impact," said Rupert Knox, Mexico Researcher
at Amnesty International.
"Prevention and punishment of these crimes remain a rare exception."
In February 2011, the National Human Rights Commission reported that 11,000 migrants had been kidnapped in the previous
six months.
In April, mass graves were discovered again in San Fernando municipality in the northern state
of Tamaulipas. Of the 193 bodies some are believed to be those of Mexican and Central American migrants abducted on route
to the US border, but fewer than 30 have been identified.
In Mexico state, three migrants' bodies were found
in the space of three months, only meters away from the San Diego migrants' shelter in Lecheria.
Those
responsible for the abuses are rarely held to account and many cases of abducted or murdered migrants are not adequately investigated.
Throughout 2011, migrant rights defenders have been subject to attack, death threats and intimidation in reprisal
for their efforts to support migrants. Fray Tomas, who runs "La 72" migrants' shelter in Tenosique, Tabasco
state, has received anonymous death threats over the phone and been insulted by state police and members of the military.
In August 2010, following the massacre of 72 migrants in the northern state of Tamaulipas, the Mexican government
launched its strategy to combat abuses against migrants. A year later there was no evidence to show that any progress had
been made.
During Mexico's appearance before the UN Committee on the Protection of all Migrant Workers
in April 2011, it was clear that the government lacked a concrete plan of action to tackle the migrants' rights crisis
in the country.
A new migration law passed this year should lead to greater protection of migrant's rights,
but proposed implementing legislation has not been consulted with civil society or enacted. Meanwhile, although some measures
have been taken to purge corrupt officials from the government body tasked with migration (Instituto Nacional de Migración,
INM) allegations of abuse continue.
"For the past two years we've been calling on Mexico's federal
authorities to lead the development and implementation of an action plan to protect migrants and stop abuses. It is high time
they turn their promises into action," said Rupert Knox.
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Press release: International Migrants Day: Mexico Still Failing to Protect Migrants, Amnesty International, Dec. 15, 2011
