 As a newcomer to the LAWG team, and inside the beltway advocacy, I have
been surprised over the last few months to learn what it actually takes
to achieve the change we want. Before I started, I assumed that if we
could simply bring the facts about real people who are suffering as a
result of U.S. policies in countries like Mexico and Colombia, we could
make it happen. But it turns out that there's so much more that goes on
in DC every day than I could have anticipated.
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They don't get it... yet.
Although we now have new leadership in Washington, they still don't
understand what they need to do to stand up for human rights. They
think that by saying more about the importance of human rights and
democracy than the Bush Administration did, they are making progress.
But we know that until they actually change U.S. policies to support
victims of violence in places like Mexico and Colombia, they will
continue to be a part of the problem, not the solution.
Now, if we can get them to hear what we hear from people in Mexico and
Colombia and know what we know, they might change their tune.
So, this month we are launching a "Human Rights NOW" campaign, which will use innovative tactics to get them to make human rights come first in U.S. policy.
Mexico’s National Commission on Human Rights (CNDH) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) are bringing national attention to a frightening dynamic developing along the U.S.-Mexico border. In spite of a large drop in immigration numbers, migrant deaths this year are threatening record increases!
As violence linked to organized crime in Mexico continues to mount and spending on a militarized approach to public security challenges expands, reports of human rights violations by members of the security forces are increasing. Policymakers in the United States and Mexico need to ask some hard questions about how to curb drug-related violence more effectively while respecting human rights. One answer includes a focus on improving and increasing accountability over police forces rather than drawing military forces into local law enforcement.
On September 17, 2009 LAWGEF joined with the Washington Office on Latin
America and the Mexico Institute at the Woodrow Wilson Center to tackle
these questions as part of a forum regarding police reform in Mexico.
Actions speak louder than words.
This seems like a simple concept. But lately, the Obama Administration
and the State Department seem to have forgotten it when dealing with
Latin America. Despite serious human rights abuses by Colombian and
Mexican security forces alike, the State Department just went ahead and
declared that both countries were meeting the human rights requirements
needed in order to receive more U.S. military aid.
Click here to send a fax to Secretary of State Clinton asking her to stand up for human rights!
Do you remember Kevin Costner's blind determination in the movie Field of Dreams
to build a baseball field based on the direction of a mysterious voice?
Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) has heard a similar voicing stating, "If you
build it, they won't come."
He wants a 700-mile wall of pedestrian fencing built along the
U.S.-Mexico border --a measure that will harm communities and the
environment of the borderlands and do nothing to fix our broken
immigration system.
Click here to help to stop this latest attempt to expand on the failed policy of constructing more walls along our SW border.
We were disappointed and troubled to learn last week that the U.S. government had released the chunk of Merida Initiative funds that were supposed to have been withheld until the State Department reported that Mexico had demonstrated progress in key areas of human rights.
Soon after the news of the release was confirmed, the Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez Human Rights Center, the Tlachinollan Human Rights Center, and the Fundar Center for Analysis and Investigation, three prominent Mexican human rights NGOs, released a public statement condemning the U.S. government’s action, as the “human rights obligations remain unfulfilled as Mexican security forces commit widespread, unpunished violations against the civilian population.”
As the media has been spinning many different stories about Merida Initiative funding, we've
been glad to see fellow human rights advocates getting the truth out there.
In recent months the Washington Post has provided useful and
hard-hitting coverage of some of the brutal tactics employed by
Mexico’s military and the Mexican government’s failure to hold soldiers
accountable for human rights violations. However, on August 13th the
Post’s editorial board published a disappointing op-ed arguing that
U.S. government could best assist Mexico by turning a blind eye to
these human rights violations. So earlier this week, Kenneth Roth,
Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, and Jorge G. Castañeda, the
former foreign minister of Mexico, challenged this short-sighted
assertion in a powerful letter to the editor.
Torture, illegal raids, and forced disappearances carried out by government soldiers with no accountability. Is this what we want our government to be funding in Mexico? No. Senator Patrick Leahy felt the same way.
If you want to support the effort to prioritize human rights in Mexico over military aid, click here.
A lot has been happening in Washington in the weeks since we covered the Washington Post article that exposed the forced disappearances, torture and illegal raids being carried out by the Mexican military as a part of the “drug war” and the practical impunity for soldiers who use these tactics. Concerned members of Congress have started asking more questions, so LAWG has been working with partner groups in the United States and Mexico to provide some answers. On July 16th, we circulated a joint public statement calling for Congress to withhold a chunk of funds designated for Mexico under the Merida Initiative, which they can only release once they accept a report from the State Department that documents the Mexican government’s efforts to meet four key human rights requirements.
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