Mexico's human rights crisis

Abstract

Mexico's human rights crisis is an edited book that takes a close look at one of the most pressing and complex internal conflicts of our time. For over a decade, local activists and international organizations have called attention to the unprecedented rise in violence that Mexicans have suffered since the government began a war against the drug cartels in 2006. They have also condemned the pervasive impunity that prevails around such violence. So what does this book add to our understanding of the Mexican crisis and what does it contribute to scholarly discussions beyond Mexico? The contributions are organized by the editors, Alejandro Anaya-Muñoz and Barbara Frey, into three sections: the first part focuses ‘on the human rights consequences that flow directly from the ongoing’ spiral of violence, insecurity and impunity (p. 11), the second part looks into ‘the violation of human rights of migrants’ (p. 14) and a last section aims to address different ‘domestic and transnational elements and processes that shape the human rights crisis in Mexico’ (p. 17). As each of its twelve chapters approaches the problem of violence from a different angle, the edited volume provides a panoramic view of the current state of human rights in Mexico and makes three important contributions.