Violencia doméstica, comunitaria y política en comunidades indígenas

Transcription

1 Violencia doméstica, comunitaria y política en comunidades indígenas Domestic, political and communitarian violence in indigenous populations in Mexico Conference presented at the ICPC-International Indigenous Community Safety Seminar, Montreal, Canada, 03/29/2011

2 INDIGENOUS POPULATION IN LATINAMERICA (2000) Country Number of indigenous population Percentage of indigenous population Bolivia (2001) 5,008, % Brasil (2000) 734, % Chile (2002) 692, % Costa Rica (2000) 63, % Ecuador (2001) 830, % Guatemala (2002) 4,610,440 41% Honduras (2001) 427,943 7% México (2000) 6,101, % Panamá (2000) 285, % Paraguay (2002) 88, % Venezuela (2001) 506, % México has the largest indigenous population in the hemisphere; however, in relative terms it only represents 6.5% of the total population. Meanwhile, countries like Bolivia or Guatemala have over 40% of their total population.

3 INDIGENOUS POPULATION IN MEXICO (INEGI, 2010) State Native Language Speakers (NLS) % of NLS Oaxaca 1,165,186 34% Chiapas 1,141,499 27% Veracruz 644,559 9% Puebla 601,680 11% Yucatán 537,516 30% Guerrero 456,774 15% Estado de México 376,830 2% Hidalgo 359,972 15% San Luis Potosí 248,196 10% Quintana Roo 196,060 16% Michoacán 136,608 3% Chihuahua 104,014 3% Nayarit 49,963 5% Otros estados 676,371 12% Total nacional 6,695,228 6% The States in the country with the largest indigenous population are: Oaxaca, Chiapas, Veracruz, Puebla and Yucatán. Alltogether they account for more than 60% of the entire indigenous population.

4 MAP 1: DISTRIBUTION OF INDIGENOUS POPULATIONS BY REGION (MEXICO, 2010) Tarahumara Huichol & Gran Nayar Huasteca Maya. There are 52 Etnolinguistic groups, disributed in 25 indigenous regions, where 77% of the NLS population inhabits. Purépecha A total of 655 indigenous municipalities (27% of the total of municipalities in Mexico) Sierra de Guerrero Mixteca, Zapoteca Selva Lacandona

5 Distribution of NLS according to size of locality Less than 2i500 hab. (62.0%) hab. (19.9%) y más hab. (11.2%) hab. (6.9%) The majority of the indigenous population in Mexico lives in localities with less than 15 thousand inhabitants, which indicates the great amount of indigenous rural population (82%). Only 11% of this sector of the population live in urban areas.

6 Human Development Index in Comparison Municipalities in Mexico % NLS Municipal HDI (2005) Country World HDI (2010) Benito Juárez (DF) Noruega Sn. Pedro Garza García (NL) Australia Chihuahua (Chih) Estados Unidos Mérida (Yuc) Irlanda Papantla (Ver) Chile San Cristóbal de las Casas (Chis) Argentina Santa María Alotepec (Oax) Perú San Agustin Loxicha (Oax) Bolivia Guachochi (Chih) Sudáfrica Metlatónoc (Gro) Cabo Verde There are high contrasts between municipalities within Mexico, particularly with those populations living in rural and indigenous communities. The levels of HDI in those villages are compared with levels of countries in Africa, that make extremely difficult to develop public policies in those regions.

7 Most common expresions of violence in rural Indigenous Communities Domestic Violence Communitarian violence Political Economical Common crime (Linchamientos) Religious conflicts Organized crime violence against IC

8 1. The evolution of the study of domestic violence Since the 1990 s there has been a great level of concern to understand domestic and gender violence. Violence problems against women within the social and working environments, as well as in schools were not a known issue. There was a huge gap of information about the frequency and severity of this phenomenon ( ). The rise in the number of murders against women in Cd. Juarez (Chih) along with various women and justice organizations showed the need to study violence against women ( ). Efforts to gather information: interviews (ENDIREH, 2003 and 2006; ENSADEMI, 2007), and other anthropological information (CIESAS, CDI, ENVIM-Salud). More information in order to design programs and public policies to confront this particular issue (since ) Outcome: there are pilot programs in Chiapas and Oaxaca to prevent domestic violence in indigenous population (2010) INMUJERES, ONU, CEPAL among other programs.

9 Domestic violence in indigenous communities statistics TOTAL AND INDIGENOUS POPULATION BY GENDER (2010) Gender Total population Indigenous population % NLS Men 54,820,231 3,397, Women 57,516,307 3,516, Both 112,336,538 6,913, There are 3.5 million indigenous women in Mexico, which represent 6.1% of the total female population in the country. More than one third of them, has suffered some degree of domestic violence as well as violence in their jobs and at school. This means that more than 1 million 172 thousand women have suffered some degree of violence. Around 19% of indigenous women have suffered some kind of aggression in the communal space, being this a physical or verbal aggression. However, there are no substantial differences with the rest of the female non-indigenous population Mexico.

10 Program to combat gender violence in indigenous communities It is a program designed to prevent gender violence in indigenous populations from an intercultural approach (workshops). Duration: 3 years, for the effective implementation of the legal framework regarding violence against women (started in 2010). Location: 20 municipalities in Chiapas and 10 from Oaxaca. In municipalities with 70% or more of indigenous population with low Human Development Index (HDI). In places with domestic violence, particularly sexual violence, physical and psychological. The program consists in: Women s rights and current legal framework diffusion Female identity constructions based on gender equity since childhood, regarding human rights, gender and multiculturalism. Development of victim attention protocols at a state level

11 Program to combat gender violence in indigenous communities Expected results after three years of the program: Workshops to increase the level of knowledge in human and women rights and legal framework. Practice of the right to have a life free of violence in indigenous communities Empowermnet of women Capacities to teachers and local government workers Construction of equality gender identities in indigenous populations To built knowledge among the dinamics of gender violence on indigenous communities

12 Common expressions of communitarian violence Linchamientos (lynch actions) Radical reaction to common crime events in communities that involve the participation of a crowd in retaining and sometimes killing the victims (i.e. When victims become killers ) Other reasons: Political: There are several conflicts around the usos y costumbres (uses and mores) elections in indigenous municipalities, particularly in the state of Oaxaca. Economical: conflicts in some regions in order to control economic factors (i.e. land), also linked with conflicts around environmental issues with mine industry and infrastructure projects.

13 Last year, the total amount of linchamientos in Mexico were 43. This is a particularly high number of this kind of events in one year. This means that there were at least 3 events every month. Specially in Estado de Mexico, we observed an steady increase in the number of linchamientos in municipalities around Mexico City (not completely rural communities).

14 Total casualties in linchamientos by state (Mexico, 2010) Estado de México Morelos Oaxaca DF Hidalgo Tlaxcala Chihuahua Guanajuato Puebla Heridos Muertos The majority of deaths and wounded were in Estado de Mexico, followed by Oaxaca, Morelos and DF. In some cases this events happened in semi-urban communities around the principal cities in those regions.

15 2. Factors that may help to explain linchamientos It is a spontaneous and anonymous collective reaction against actions of burglary, kidnapping, raping,. There is a preexistent condition of a general perception of insecurity, corruption and lack of justice. The action is motivated by the idea of taking justice in their own hands. Enormous amount of collective frustration. High level of social cohesion, collective irritation and communitarian organization. Many of these actions are against policemen or other armed forces. These events also occur in non-indigenous and semi-urban communities (around Mexico City)

16 3. Political Violence in Indigenous Communities In some regions of Oaxaca, Chiapas and Guerrero we have experienced regular violent patterns concerning the elections of the local authorities. In indigenous communities the only elections that matter are the ones for local authorities (municipal presidencies). Sometimes, political parties divide and play a polarizing role in the results of local elections, and some differences may emerge: Differences with the selection of candidates Disagreement in the process of election itself Indigenous communities in Oaxaca, and Chiapas have some degree of autonomy; when it is violated by political parties, must of the time violent events occur.

17 Program to combat gender violence in indigenous communities Last year we observed 21 cases of violent events in Oaxaca, due to electoral or political reasons. In many of these cases the conflicts lasted some weeks or even months until the state authorities solved the conflict between the parties involved in it.

18 4. Drug Trafficking violence in IC MONTHLY HOMICIDES BY MUNICIPALITY ( ) Since 2006, we observe a steady increase in drug related homicides in Mexico; thus, this graph shows the monthly increase of homicides and the growing amount of municipalities that are experiencing high levels of violence.

19 DISPERSION OF HOMICIDES BY STATE (JAN-2009 TO JAN-2011) High levels of dispersion of violence in those states with the highest number of homicides related with drug trafficking in the last two years. Estados más violentos 2010 Número de municipios con homicidios vinculados a la DO Ene-09 Ene-10 Ene-11 Chihuahua Guerrero Sinaloa Durango Nuevo León Jalisco México Tamaulipas Sonora Michoacán TOTAL % + 45%

20 MAP 2: HOMICIDES IN INDIGENOUS MUNICIPALITIES (2010)

21 Drug Trafficking violence in indigenous communities Since 2000 s there has been rising problems related to drugs in indigenous communities: Laborers to take care of the crops. Cultivo de maíz bola (amapola) Crop producers where they barely earn more money. There are not reliable data, but drug consumption among indigenous people has increased in these regions. Two of the most affected areas are Triángulo Dorado (Golden Triangle) in Durango, and Tarahumara Region in Chihuahua. It brings militarization and presence of armed groups, that in most cases comes along with violation of Human Rights. If they don t grow these substances, they take their lands away. They are constantly threatened, they suffer kidnappings and extorsions if they refuse to cooperate. Indigenous women transport the merchandise (burreras) Increse levels of violence and weakens the communal cohesion.

22 Conclusions There are not precise diagnosis on how violence is affecting indigenous communities in some regions. However, studies and programs in the attendance of domestic violence are nowadays in progress. Since this sector of the population is the poorest and most vulnerable, it is the last one in the priorities list. The approach for indigenous communities is still from an economic perspective For the Mexican State and institutions the indigenous populations are seen as poor population, not as cultural or ethnic minorities. Deficient judicial system and law enforcement, which is particularly biassed and unfair with indigenous population. Indigenous people are often accused of crimes they did not commit, since there are no available translators during their legal processes. Human Rights problems in regions where drugs are produced since there are elements of the army around.

23 Finally: six easy meassures to improve the present situation: 1. Improve the level and depth of information about violence in indigenous communities. 2. Reduce the level of poverty. 3. Social policy programs to attack specific indigenous population problems. 4. Build social and human capital. 5. Strenght local governments and work with local organizations on these issues. 6. Reform the judicial system; need of more inclusiveness for ethnic diversity.