Lecture on the human rights situation in Mexico
On 11 April 2018, students of the Advanced Master’s in European and International Human Rights Law attended a lecture on the human rights situation in Mexico. The lecture was delivered by Dr. Víctor Avendaño Porras, who lectures and researches at Mexico’s CRESUR (Research Centre on Teaching Formation and on Education Research for the South-Southeast).
The lecture described how the Mexican State has failed to guarantee the validity of fundamental human rights since former President Felipe Calderón (2006-2012) declared a “war on drug trafficking”. Currently, during the government of president Enrique Peña Nieto, members of security forces have been involved in serious violations of human rights in the framework of actions against organized crime. These include extrajudicial executions, forced disappearances and torture. The government has achieved little progress in prosecuting those responsible for the abuses, in special those committed by state soldiers and police security forces.
