Elsewhere in this forum Natalia Saltalamacchia, Alejandro Anaya and Jorge Castañeda provide compelling evidence that international human rights norms have made in-roads with the Mexican public. In theory, this should make it more difficult for representatives of the state to abuse citizens with impunity. Despite this, human rights violations in Mexico have increased dramatically in the last decade.
In fact, since 2007 more than 26,000 people have disappeared in Mexico, and the country’s National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) is currently investigating 2,443 of these cases for alleged involvement of state agents. As FLASCO researcher Karina Ansolabehere recently argued, Mexico finds itself “at a critical juncture”, in which the state is being pressured by a disconcerted public to improve its deplorable human rights record. A large part of the challenge is simply creating safe and confidential avenues for citizens to transparently report violations. In the short run, this will help the public gain a better understanding of the types of abuses that are occurring. In the long run, however, Mexico must focus on addressing the underlying causes of human rights violations.
Identifying what triggers human rights violations in Mexico is the first step to curbing future transgressions. With that in mind, I believe that mass emigration helps explain, at least in part, the recent escalation of human rights violations in Mexico.
