Violence and conflicts have displaced hundreds of thousands of people in Mexico

Criminality, disasters, mining, illegal logging and local conflicts have left hundreds of thousands of displaced people in Mexico, according to the preliminary observations of Cecilia Jimenez-Damary, UN special rapporteur who concluded a work visit.

Jimenez-Damary explained that the federal government does not have statistics, but that "secondary sources", such as organisations, academics and local authorities, gave him estimates that there would be between 350,000 and 400,000 internally displaced people in Mexico, with 126 million inhabitants.

"She observed that the causes of displacement are diverse and multifactorial. Among them are different types of violence, often originating from organised crime, sometimes related to development projects, illegal mining and logging, or electoral conflicts.", She said.

"Although indigenous peoples and communities represent 10% of the total population of Mexico, more than 40% of displacement episodes recorded by civil society in 2020 affected indigenous peoples," She said.

Gender violence, She adds, makes women and girls particularly vulnerable, because before threats and aggressions they are forced to flee their homes, with which their family is disintegrated, and they lose their heritage and their way of life.

The expert will present his final report before the Council of Human Rights of the United Nations in June 2023.