Page 67 - Empowerment and Protection - Stories of Human Security

THe vicTiMS’ RiGHTS acTiviST
Ximena antillón is a psychologist working with victims of violence and human rights abuses, and a researcher at fundar: centro de análisis e investigación, one of Mexico’s leading think tanks.
Beyond the discourse
The situation is quite dire. There are thousands of people killed in the context of the ight against drugs and crime. It is true that the discourse has changed, the new government no longer uses a war discourse, and it no longer refers to victims as ‘collateral damage.’ But we do not see a real change in the strategy to tackle crime. It is a paradox that the new government is putting in place a system to attend to the needs of victims, while nothing is being done to avoid additional victims.
During the past administration we counted over 25,000 enforced disappearances. We do not
have the oficial data for the irst year of this
new administration, but it is quite possible that the trend continues. Some institutions have been created, like the Specialised Unit for Missing Persons within the Attorney General’s Ofice. However, the Attorney General himself has recognised that they are overwhelmed by the number of cases and that his ofice does not have the capacity to respond. The situation for the families of victims continues to deteriorate.
emergence of the victims' movement
Given this context, there have been many types of responses from society. One of the most notable has been the organisation and empowerment of victims. In the seventies, the families of victims
of politically motivated enforced disappearances of the so-called ‘dirty war’ began to organise themselves. During the nineties other victims’ organisations and movements emerged, especially
”It is a paradox that the new government is putting in place a system to attend to the needs of victims, while nothing is being done to avoid additional victims.”
in northern Mexico due to the femicidesb in Ciudad Juárez and the increasing levels of enforced disappearances.
One movement that has drawn a lot of national and international attention is the Movimiento por la Paz con Justicia y Dignidad (MPJD) a national victims’ movement started by Javier Sicilia – the Mexican poet whose son was murdered on March 28, 2011 with six other people. He called for a national protest and denounced the results of the security strategy of Calderón. The movement made visible the unacceptable costs of the militarised strategy. Apart from giving a voice to victims and demanding the government to ind disappeared persons, the MPJD has urged the government to change its militarised strategy to a more integral approach.
The MPJD advocates a human security approach, with a special focus on prevention and public policies for youth: health, employment, education, etc. They have also asked for an improvement of the democratic institutions and practices in Mexico and the end of the monopoly over media outlets. So the movement is not only focused on victims, but on deep and meaningful transformation of the country.
b Homicides of women began increasing in 1993 and grew to crisis proportions from 2006 to 2012. A report issued in 2012 by the Nobel Women’s Initiative documented “alarming increases in violence against women over the past years, with evidence of the negligence of governments in protecting its citizens and direct participation in acts of violence.” See http://nobelwomensinitiative.org
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