By Sovereign Hager
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America
(Photo Courtesy of The Rule of Law Initiative)
MEXICO CITY, Mexico - A report released this week finds that although the Mexican government has worked to bring its law into compliance with the International Treaty Against Human Trafficking, Mexico has done little to prosecute and punish human traffickers.
The report, called the
Human Trafficking Assessment Tool for Mexico, was written by the American Bar Association’s Rule of Law Project. The report was the product of 78 interviews with experts and government officials between January and June of 2008. The report cited the lack of convictions and existence of legal inconsistencies, such as limiting the definition of “trafficking victim” to passive subjects of the crime that cooperate with criminal proceedings, as most problematic.
The Mexican Law to Prevent and Penalize Trafficking in Persons went into effect in February 2009. It provides both domestic and international jurisdiction over trafficked persons, which is classified as a felony. Similarly, as of May 2009, twenty-two Mexican states and its federal district had enacted legislation to criminalize some forms of human trafficking on the local level.
The federal government has opened twenty-four criminal investigations against suspected human traffickers. However, there have been no convictions or punishments and the government has not completed renovations of a new trafficking shelter. The government has continued to refer victims to NGOs for assistance. The UNHCR has stated that in light of the large number of victims present in the country, the lack of a stronger response by the government is “of concern”.
The UNHCR reports that groups most vulnerable to human trafficking in Mexico are women and children, Indigenous persons, and undocumented migrants. A substantial number of Mexican women, girls, and boys are trafficked within the country for commercial sexual exploitation. They are lured by false job offers from poor rural regions to urban, border, and tourist areas.
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