Mexico

Social and economic stratification in Mexico persists to the present day. The bottom 40% of the population shares only 11% of the wealth and are considered to live below the Mexican poverty line. Many families live in total poverty and children are compelled to work on the streets in order to supplement the family income.

Between 2000 and 2002, access to electricity increased from 63 to 90 percent in the population living in extreme poverty in rural areas. Access to drinking water increased from 38 to 58 percent, while access to sanitation services increased only from 22 to 26 percent. While almost 70 percent of the moderate poor have their own house, only 5 percent indicated that they were paying for their house, which is an indicator of the predominantly self-financed purchase and construction process.

After the 1994-1995 economic crisis, probably the most severe in the country's history, 50% of the population fell into poverty. A rapid growth in exports propitiated by NAFTA and other trade agreements, and the restructuring of the macroeconomic finances had impressive results in the reduction of the poverty rate. According to the World Bank, extreme poverty was reduced to 17.6% in 2004. Most of this reduction was done in rural communities whose rate of poverty declined from 42% to 27.9% in the 2000-2004 period, although urban poverty stagnated at 11%.

Among Mexico’s most serious human rights problems are those affecting its criminal justice system. Persons under arrest or imprisonment face torture and ill-treatment, and law enforcement officials often neglect to investigate and prosecute those responsible for human rights violations. Also, Mexican police forces routinely employ excessive force when carrying out crowd–control operations. There have been accounts of police officers killing people and arbitrarily detaining, beating, and kicking demonstrators. Police have also sexually harassed women while they were being transported to penitentiaries.

Over 40 percent of prisoners in Mexico have never been convicted of a crime. Rather, they are held in pretrial detention, often waiting years for trial. The excessive use of pretrial detention contributes to overcrowding in prisons. Prison inmates are also subject to abuses, including extortion by guards and the imposition of solitary confinement for indefinite periods of time. Foreign migrants are especially vulnerable to such abuses.

A major shortcoming of the Mexican justice system is that it leaves the task of investigating and prosecuting army abuses to military authorities. The military justice system is ill–equipped for such tasks. It lacks the independence necessary to carry out reliable investigations and its operations suffer from a general absence of transparency. The ability of military prosecutors to investigate army abuses is further undermined by a fear of the army, which is widespread in many rural communities and which inhibits civilian victims and witnesses from providing information to military authorities.

Mexican laws do not adequately protect women and girls against domestic violence and sexual abuse. Some laws on violence against women run directly counter to international standards, including provisions of Mexican law that define sanctions for some sexual offenses with reference to the b“chastity” of the victim and provisions penalizing domestic violence only when the victim has been battered repeatedly. Because the legal protections that exist are often not enforced, victims are reluctant to report crimes and sexual and domestic violence against women and girls continues to be rampant and shrouded in impunity.

And yet, Mexico has maintained its leading role in promoting human rights at the international level. In June 2006 Mexico became the first country to preside over the newly formed United Nations Human Rights Council.

Mexico has 11% of the estimated HIV cases in the Latin Amercia region, with 180,000 people living with HIV (0.3% prevalence). Mexico's epidemic has leveled off somewhat in recent years. Mexico has had the weakest civil society response to AIDS in a highly conservative context, which limits access to prevention and care.

Epidemiological analyses of HIV/AIDS in Mexico are made by classifying patients by age, sex, and method of transmission. In males, the primary source of transmission has been sexual (homosexual and heterosexual) and only secondarily through blood transfusions. In women, the initial source of transmission had been by blood transfusion, but now it is primarily through heterosexual contact. The initial cases of pediatric (children under 15) transmission were also by blood transfusion. However, that has now shifted primarily to prenatal transmission with a few incidences of sexual transmission.

Based on current HIV surveillance data, the HIV epidemic is primarily concentrated among men who have sex with men (homosexual and bisexual). Most of those infected live in large cities where the prevalence rate has remained stable for several years. However, the prevalence rates in smaller and medium cities have begun to increase.

Additionally, the country has had a problem with malaria, a deadly illness that can be spread by infected mosquitoes. Mexico has made substantial progress in decreasing malaria transmission so that eventual elimination of the disease does not appear to be an unrealistic goal anymore. Such an achievement would yield important health benefits for the country and its neighbors, as well as substantial economic dividends, particularly for Mexico's tourism industry.

Food and waterborne diseases are the primary cause of illness in travelers. Travelers’ diarrhea can be caused by viruses, bacteria, or parasites, which are found throughout this region and can contaminate food or water. Infections may cause diarrhea and vomiting, fever, or liver damage.

Despite Mexico’s rapid economic growth over the past few decades, inadequate attention to pollution controls and infrastructure considerations led to significant environmental degradation. Mexico only began to seriously address environmental protection in the late 1980s and 1990s. Mexico has given principal responsibility for environmental policy to the Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT), although important enforcement duties are delegated to state and local governments.

The Mexican Health Secretariat says that more than a third of Mexico's disease burden is the result of environmental factors, the most serious of which is air pollution. Mexico City has the worst air pollution in the country and ranks among the most polluted cities in the world. Exhaust fumes from Mexico City's estimated 4 million motor vehicles, many of which are old and especially environmentally damaging, are the main source of air pollutants. The city's air problem is aggravated by its unique geography. Mexico City resides in a basin more than 7,400 feet above sea level and is surrounded on three sides by mountains. These isolate the city from regional weather disturbances and trap pollution.

In addition, Mexico has the fourth largest crude oil reserves in the Western Hemisphere after Canada, Venezuela, and the United States. In 2001, Mexico consumed 6 quadrillion Btu (quads) of commercial energy, the vast majority of which came from fossil fuels. Between 1980 and 1998, Mexico's carbon emissions rose 61.3%, from 64.7 million metric tons to 104.4 million metric tons. Mexican carbon emissions then remained stable until 2001, when they declined to 96.1 million metric tons (1.5% of the world total).

There is great potential for the use of renewable energy in Mexico. Currently, hydroelectric power is the largest renewable energy source, providing 20% of Mexico's total electricity supply. There are plans to construct new hydroelectric capacity over the next decade. Amongst non-hydroelectric renewable sources of energy, geothermal is the most widely established in Mexico.

Mexico’s literacy rate is high, with 92.2% of the citizens age 15 and over being able to read and write. And yet, the country faces some of the challenges of literacy learning in Mexico’s vast multilingual and multicultural society. Attention to linguistic diversity in literacy teaching, however, is a rather recent focus in both research and practice. The Secretariat of Public Education (SEP) continues, to this day, to promote the development of literacy materials in Mexico's 56 native languages, based on programmatic proposals in favor of literacy development in both Spanish and students' mother tongues.

Despite impressive gains in enrollment levels during the mid 20th century, significant problems began to plague the Mexican education system in the early 1990s. Now, as much as 8% of primary- and secondary-school-age students, especially in rural areas, fail to complete their education programs. In addition, instructional quality, as measured by student test scores, remains low.

Higher education consists of three types: universities, technological colleges, and teacher-training institutes. There are private and public institutions of all three types, but public institutions are more numerous and usually larger, with over 80% of students attending public universities and colleges. Technological institutes are popular and teacher-training institutes, which are separate from general universities, generally offer a four-year curriculum.

AMISTAD - AMISTAD, since its foundation in 1996, as a non-profit organization raises donations to support various micro-projects in rural areas in Mexico. The organization organizes fund-raising events throughout the year, carries out cultural events, and participates in local and national events which are mostly sponsored by government agencies. During the monthly meetings of AMISTAD members and the broad public participate in social events, such as conversation, culture, Mexican arts and typical games.

Bioplaneta Network, Mexico – This is the Mexican branch of the network for rural andself-sustained cooperative organizations committed to the conservation of the environment, fair trade and the improvement of the living standards of its members and their communities. The network provides a space of growth, exchange and solidarity, with the objective that its members achieve security, strength and independence is a sustainable way. It seeks the creation of a commercial plan that integrates the fair and reasonable exchange of goods, services, ideas and culture by offering a space for vulnerable social groups, respecting their values, natural resources and traditions.

Casa Ananda – An organization devoted to helping street children and homeless young adults leave the streets, drugs, alcohol, prostitution and criminal activities and give them the opportunity to finish their elementary, high school, preparatory and college studies. Members aid these members of the community while inspiring them to become productive and exemplary citizens.

Multiple Sclerosis Society of Mexico – This group aims to create awareness that MS exists in Mexico and that 12,000 persons may have the disease. Additionally, the society runs an effective, not-for-profit association office in Mexico City, to communicate to principal neurologists latest information on research, diagnosis, treatments, and progress to an eventual cure for MS. They respond to enquiries from patients, their families and physicians, encouraging them to join or form patient and family self-help groups. Lastly, the organization looks for corporate or individual donors who will underwrite or fund the administrative office now, and who eventually will be the source for establishing a real "Center", which can help alleviate suffering, and improve the quality of life of MS persons, in major population areas of the country.

National Wildlife Council of Mexico – The National Wildlife Council encourages knowledge about the foundation of sustainable life, though an ethic based on respect and consideration for the human beings who inhabit the planet. The group tries to ensure that development does not occur at the expense of other groups or future generations, and does not threaten the survival of other species.

Olimpiadas Especiales de Mexico - Organization provides year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for all individuals with mental retardation. Participation in Special Olympic sports gives athletes continuing opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy and participate in the sharing of gifts, skills and friendship with their families, other Special Olympics athletes and the community.

Peace Mexico - PEACE serves the community of Punta de Mita in Nayarit, Mexico. The group runs after-school enrichment programs for local children, a women's co-op for the local women, which allows them to earn an income, and spay/neuter clinics in order to reduce the overpopulation of street animals.

Sociedad Cooperativa Tosepan Titataniske – The group fights, in an organized form and non-violent means, against poverty through the implementation of economic (mainly agricultural) and social projects. It is comprised of 5,800 indigenous people from the North of Puebla, in Mexico and focuses on the area’s main activities of the cultivation and selling of coffee, allspice and Macadamia nuts, improving women’s health, and supporting housing development projects.

Transparency Mexico – This non-profit civil society organization confronts the problem of corruption from an integral perspective through the promotion of public policies and private attitudes against corruption and in favor of a culture of integrity, legality and accountability. Transparencia Mexicana, founded in 1999, is the Mexican Chapter of Transparency International, the global coalition against corruption.

UNICEF - United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) - Mandated by the United Nations General Assembly to advocate for the protection of children's rights, to help meet their basic needs and to expand their opportunities to reach their full potential.

Vientos Culturales - Began working 10 years ago with children and youth from marginalized communities in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, Mexico creating artistic workshops and events. Now, its mission is to promote human development through art and culture, working in a participatory way with a human quality in areas with the most need in our community. Vientos Culturales seeks to motivate children and youth to develop their creativity and abilities, and also to promote important values in them such as self esteem, honesty, respect, strong work ethic, study and service.

World Health Organization – a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. Its major task is to combat disease, especially key infectious diseases, and to promote the general health of the peoples of the world. As well as coordinating international efforts to monitor outbreaks of infectious disease such as SARS, malaria, and AIDS, it also has programs to combat such diseases, by developing and distributing vaccines

American Friends Service Committee - The Mexico Summer Project offers 7 weeks of service work, intercultural exchange and learning with indigenous communities in rural Mexico. Participants speak Spanish at all times for the duration of the project, as it is the only language common to all participants and indigenous communities where they live. Volunteers must be between 18- 26 years old, proficient in Spanish, and eager to learn from those that are different from them.

Auris Project - Volunteers will live in the municipality of Catorce, San Luis Potosi, one of the most interesting, historically significant and underserved municipalities in Central Mexico. They will help teach English, conduct social research, assist in adobe construction and make lifelong friends in the rural villages of the Altiplano Potosino region. Volunteers will live with local families or in a picturesque cabana as they come to know the communities and learn about the challenges, opportunities and realities that confront the rural communities.

Centro Ecológico Akumal - Centro Ecológico Akumal is looking for volunteers to assist its Sea Turtle Protection, Conservation and Research Program during the nesting season. The work consists of nightly (9 p.m. to 4 a.m.) patrols along beaches, monitoring, protection, tagging and relocating nests. Furthermore, there is an Environmental Education component to the program, raising awareness among tourists, students and the community as a whole. Volunteers must be at least 21 years of age, able to work on the beach at night, able to work as a member of a team, and willing to make a minimum eight-week commitment.

Coordinadora de Grupos Culturales Indigenas y Populares – The organization is looking for volunteers who share the desire to further the objectives of better networking for nonprofit organizations, women's issues, human rights and civil liberties. Volunteer opportunities are based on your skills, interests, and the needs of the community. Areas where one can work include: administrative support in the office, help in securing funds, direct work in the communities with one of the member organizations and/or in one of the main action areas.

Los Medicos Voladores [The Flying Doctors] - Seeks healthcare professional volunteers to offer their time and expertise on trips to run short-term, no-cost, quality healthcare and health education clinics in rural Mexico, the Coachella Valley in southwestern California, and Central America. We are most in need of dentists, optometrists, and medical doctors (particularly general practitioners or those specializing in pediatrics or women’s health).

Marianist Volunteer Program - The Marianist Volunteer Program (MVP) is recruiting volunteers to live in an a Mexican community with other volunteers, receive a small stipend, receive health insurance, participate in an orientation and re-entry retreat (as well as retreats throughout the year) and volunteer at a service site full time for a period of two years. For this volunteer placement, the volunteer needs a working knowledge of Spanish. The volunteer site will be selected based on the volunteers’ preferences and skills.

Oaxaca Solidarity Network – The Oaxaca Solidarity, a collective of citizens working to create an international conscience aboutthe socio-political situation in Oaxaca, is looking for a long-term volunteer (minimum 6 months). Volunteer must be a bilingual, English-Spanish speaker with an interest in Mexico and human rights issues. Will handle our public relations and campaigns, help organize and lead delegations, network with local organizations, and help with listserve and website if possible. Volunteer must provide for their own room and board. There will be some economic compensation when there are delegations.

Peace Brigades International - A non-governmental organization which protects human rights and promotes nonviolent transformation of conflicts. When invited, the group sends teams of volunteers into areas of repression and conflict. The volunteers accompany human rights defenders, their organizations and others threatened by political violence. Perpetrators of human rights abuses usually do not want the world to witness their actions. The presence of volunteers backed by a support network helps to deter violence. This organization creates space for local activists to work for social justice and human rights.

Student World Assembly - Student World Assembly is looking for volunteers with a strong interest in Global Democracy and Human Rights to research schools in their area and recruit members for the organization. Volunteers will provide SWA International with information on these schools including name, size of student body, name/email/phone number/mailing address of person in charge of Student Affairs, school website, name of school newspaper, and editor name & contact information. They may also research the procedures for establishing a new student organization on campus—who is the contact person, what forms need to be completed, what are the requirements, how long does it take to receive official status as a student organization.

United Planet - Long-term United Planet volunteers in Mexico will provide vital support to communities in need, immerse and learn about diverse cultures, and explore fascinating areas of the country visited. They have the exciting opportunity to gain an even deeper understanding and appreciation of a foreign land and culture through humanitarian service, language and intercultural training, cultural learning activities, and exploration. By working closely with the local people, volunteers will make a positive difference in a range of areas, such as orphan care, education, healthcare, environmental conservation, housing for the poor, and more. United Planet is the proud US and Canadian partner within the International Cultural Youth Exchange (ICYE) Federation, the oldest long-term volunteering federation in the world.