About This Document (IRD-44308).
This Microsoft Word document created by the La Trobe University Inclusive Resources Development team. This document has been created as a transcript of the supplied audio/video and contains only narrative/spoken content. No audio description has been included.
While every care has been taken to accurately transcribe the original material there may still be errors contained in this conversion.
Project Number.
44308.
Client Name.
Graduate Research School.
Title.
3MT.
Publisher.
La Trobe University.
Date of publication.
2016.
Copyright Notice.
Copyright Regulations 1969.
WARNING.
This material has been copied and communicated to you by or on behalf of La Trobe University pursuant to Part VA of the Copyright Act 1968 (the Act). The material in this communication may be subject to copyright under the Act. Any further copying or communication of this material by you may be the subject of copyright protection under the Act.
Do not remove this notice.
Start Transcript.
Perla Guarneros.
We all have human rights; we have the right to life, liberty and not to be discriminated or tortured. Those are some of the most fundamental human rights that we may take for granted because it seems obvious that they must be respected. They are so important that they are established in international agreement signed by countries for their protection. Sadly, horrible crimes such as human trafficking, rape, murder and torture happen every day. Human rights violations are a reality. And of course some groups are more vulnerable than others.
My research deals with the violation of human rights of a particular group, illegal immigrants. Immigrants are people who move from one place to another, usually looking for better opportunities. Their reasons may be conflict, oppression, poverty, violence, even natural disasters. Migration is common. But when these people travel without legal documentation, they become illegal, and for that reason they are very vulnerable. My thesis is focused on the large number of illegal immigrants from Central America who cross Mexico trying to get to the United States. We're talking about approximately 400,000 Central Americans crossing the southern Mexican border every year. Four hundred thousand people is about the population of Tasmania. When these people cross Mexico as illegals, they are in a survival race. On one hand, they try to evade migration authorities, but on the other, because of drug dealing problems in Mexico, they try to avoid becoming victims of crime and abuse in the hands of drug-related gangs or corrupted officials, who may rob them, kidnap them, forcibly recruit them to carry drugs into the US, rape them, or even kill them. Many of these abuses constitute serious violation of human rights. Mexico has signed international agreements for the protection of these rights, therefore the government has an international obligation to protect those migrants, regardless of their legal status. This is what my research is about.
In Mexico, despite the existence of laws for the protection of migrants, blatant and even cynical violation of their human rights are happening. The law is not working. My project aims to find the missing link between the law and the social reality. Why isn't the law working? I seek to find the particular deficiencies of the government in the enactment of public policies for the protection of these migrants, and how other countries and the international community could demand from Mexico the fulfilment of its international obligations. Illegal immigrants need protection, and the Mexican government needs to start doing something about it. Yes, political and economic factors play an important role, but when it comes to the protection of humanity, we ought to take every necessary step to reach our goal. My research is my first step.
Thank you.
End Transcript.