The protection and enjoyment of a population’s human rights is likely the most important yardstick for evaluating whether or not a democracy is doing its job. In Mexico, the serious human rights crisis – which had worsened by the "War on Drug Trafficking" – fueled, to a large extent, a deep frustration with the [...]
In the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, governments, communities, and individuals are seeking guidance on the best ways to respond to this immense challenge. The human rights framework offers a relevant guide. The guidelines of various international bodies and the actions of civil society organizations attest to this. Both the United Nations and the [...]
The transition to a new ruling party in Mexicos federal government gave rise to enormous expectations about the possibility of advancing much needed changes in Mexico. Thus far, with respect to human rights, the result has been mixed, with examples both of positive actions aimed at reversing the persistent human rights crisis in the [...]
The human rights crisis that has plagued Mexico, aggravated by the so-called “War on Drugs”, has produced tens of thousands of victims of state and criminal violence –and, particularly, violence within the intersection between the two– which translates into an immeasurable number of broken lives and suffering. This, however, is not the only face [...]
The phenomenon of sexual torture against detained women has not been sufficiently analyzed in Mexico, while the role of the State has been almost absolute passivity. However, academic bodies and civil society organizations have traced new routes to discover it. During the last four years, at Centro Prodh we have heard of more than [...]
Mexico is facing a crisis of Human Rights violations, corruption, and impunity. This diagnosis, first suggested by civil society, has now been adopted by eminent Mexican political actors and by the most important international human rights organizations, ranging from the Inter-American Commision on Human Rights (IACHR) to the Office of the United Nations High [...]
The struggle to eradicate torture in Mexico faces enormous difficulties. The generalized, persistent, and unpunished use of torture is one of the principle facets of the country’s ongoing human rights crisis and has been the subject of numerous expressions of concern from international bodies. Unfortunately, torture is a mainstay of the Mexican criminal justice [...]
On the night of September 26, 2014, in Iguala, in the Mexican state of Guerrero, one of the most emblematic episodes of human rights violations in the recent history of our country occurred. The results were brutal: the enforced disappearance of 43 young students who are still missing; six people killed, including three Ayotzinapa [...]
Today, men and women from all over Mexico are organizing to use their knowledge and the law to defend their land against destruction by so-called mega-development projects, including the extraction of mineral resources foreseen in Mexico’s energy reform. As land takeovers tear the social fabric of Mexico’s communities, the violation of the right to [...]
As our readers know, Mexico’s crisis of violence and serious human rights violations takes place against a backdrop of territorial disputes between rival criminal organizations. The government’s official position is that it fights against these organizations in a “war against crime” whose different parties are perfectly distinguishable. The reality, exemplified in cases such as [...]
