(Mexico City) Crime, illegal mining and logging and local conflicts have left hundreds of thousands of people displaced in Mexico, UN special rapporteur Cecilia Jimenez-Damary said on Friday.
Posted at 7:52 p.m.
The human rights expert explained that the Mexican federal government does not have statistics, but that “secondary sources”, such as non-governmental organizations, academics and local authorities, have given her estimates that there are between 350,000 and 400,000 internally displaced people in Mexico, a country of 126 million people.
Mme Jimenez-Damary, presented to the press her conclusions at the end of a visit that began on August 29 during which she visited four Mexican districts.
Among the factors that have contributed to this phenomenon, “are different types of violence, often caused by organized crime, sometimes linked to development projects, illegal mining and logging, or electoral, religious and agrarian conflicts. “, she said.
She estimated that among the thousands of people forced from their homes, the natives were the most affected.
According to Mme Jimenez-Damary, impunity and shortcomings in the justice and security systems are also factors that have a significant impact on the displacement of people who, out of fear, prefer to leave their homes.
“In some regions of the country, organized crime frightens, controls territories and populations, through threats, intimidation […] investigations are rarely carried out, even on the most serious crimes like homicides and disappearances,” he continued.
The expert will present her final report to the UN Human Rights Council in June 2023.