- Title: Damning report claims Mexico failing to protect migrants
- Date: 27th July 2017
- Summary: ARRIAGA, CHIAPAS, MEXICO (FILE) (REUTERS) YOUNG MIGRANTS BY DUSTY TRAIN TRACKS GENERAL VIEW OF YOUNG MIGRANTS BY TRAINS AND TRAIN TRACKS MIGRANTS GATHERING PACE TO GRAB LADDER OF MOVING TRAIN UNION HIDALGO, OAXACA, MEXICO (FILE) (REUTERS) TRAIN WITH MIGRANTS ON TOP OF CARRIAGES GOING OVER A BRIDGE MIGRANTS TRAVELLING ON TOP OF CARRIAGES WOMAN AND TWO CHILDREN TRAVELLING BETWEEN CARRIAGES MIGRANTS TRAVELLING ON TOP OF TRAIN CARRIAGE / MIGRANT DUCKING FROM LOW-LYING BRANCH IXTEPEC, OAXACA, MEXICO (FILE) (REUTERS) MIGRANTS WALKING DOWN LADDER FROM TOP OF CARRIAGES MIGRANT MOTHER AND HER SON WALKING BY TRAIN TRACKS CADEREYTA, NUEVO LEON, MEXICO (FILE) (REUTERS) POLICE VEHICLES UNDER TOWN SIGN BODY ON GROUND COVERED IN PLASTIC SHEET GENERAL VIEW OF CRIME SCENE WITH AUTHORITIES INVESTIGATING SITE BEHIND TREES FORENSIC OFFICIALS TRANSPORTING BODY IN PLASTIC BODY PUT IN BACK OF FORENSICS VAN
- Embargoed: 10th August 2017 22:02
- Keywords: enforcement USA Central America Washington Office on Latin America impunity crime migrants report Mexico protection
- Location: MEXICO CITY; ARRIAGA, CHIAPAS; UNION HIDALGO, OAXACA; IXTEPEC, OAXACA; CADEREYTA, NUEVO LEON, MEXICO
- City: MEXICO CITY; ARRIAGA, CHIAPAS; UNION HIDALGO, OAXACA; IXTEPEC, OAXACA; CADEREYTA, NUEVO LEON, MEXICO
- Country: Mexico
- Topics: Asylum/Immigration/Refugees,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA0026RHUHC3
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: A report compiled by a Washington-based NGO on the plight of migrants has turned its focus to Mexico and called for greater protection for those crossing the Latin American country towards the United States amidst a reported uptake in crime against those making the perilous journey north.
At a Mexico City news conference, investigators from the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) presented a worrying picture on the vulnerability of migrants to kidnapping, human trafficking, acts of sexual violence and even homicides in Mexico. The report entitled "Access to Justice in Mexico for Migrants: A Right that Only Exists on Paper" claims that there is a 99% impunity rate in crimes associated with migrants. Of the nearly 6,000 complaints brought by migrants to Mexican police since 2014, only 49 have resulted in a conviction.
In recent months Mexico has stepped up criticism of President Donald Trump's clampdown on its citizens living abroad in the United States and introduced extra consular services for its expats north of the border. But WOLA called on Mexican authorities to also look closer to home and the plight of migrants in its own backyard.
The country's raging drug war between rival cartels and the Mexican state has created a new front in the dangers facing migrants, leaving many migrants from Central America caught in the middle. In the sleepy Mexican town of Cadereyta close to Texas, 49 headless corpses of migrants were found in 2012. Investigators in Mexico blamed drug gangs seeking to recruit migrants for the bloodshed. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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