The government promotes the first visit of the special rapporteur on internally displaced persons

From the Editorial Office

Newspaper La Jornada
Tuesday, August 30, 2022, p. 8

At the invitation of the federal government, the United Nations (UN) special rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, Cecilia Jimenez-Damary, began a visit to Mexico in which she will witness the situation of internal forced displacement in the country.

Its activities will conclude on September 9 with a report and recommendations for the Mexican State on this matter, the Ministry of the Interior stated yesterday.

Reporting the start of the visit in a statement, the Undersecretary for Human Rights, Population and Migration, Alejandro Encinas, explained that it is the first time that Mexico has received this rapporteur based on official recognition.

The institutional abandonment of all these victims in the past, especially those of internal forced displacement, resulted in a lack of care, and prevented and postponed the construction of a minimum institutional framework for care, response and prevention, and led to the non-existence of an adequate and robust regulatory framework that would provide an effective response to the needs of these peopleadded the official.

Although cases of forced displacement have been documented since the 1970s, it was not until 2019 that the existence and seriousness of the phenomenon was officially recognized, he added.

Encinas argued that We are open to international scrutiny, not only as an exercise in accountability, but because we know that collaborative work with international organizations strengthens us as a government.

Similarly, the General Director of Human Rights and Democracy of the Mexican Foreign Ministry, Cristopher Ballinas Valdés, affirmed that the federal government has reiterated that it is open to constructive dialogue and cooperation with international human rights bodies and mechanisms.

In addition, the agency explained that the Mexican government assumed the commitment to advance in the attention and recognition of internal forced displacement as a multi-causal phenomenon, and which requires a comprehensive approach based on respect for human rights, aimed at prevention, care, repair and search for lasting solutions.