294981
Human rights violations against Mexican border crossers in the Arizona-Sonora, Mexico border region
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
: 9:15 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.
Marylyn McEwen, PhD, PHCNS-BC, FAAN,
College of Nursing and Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, The University of Arizona College of Nursing and Public Health, Tucson, AZ
Human rights violations targeted against Mexican border crossers have become endemic in the Arizona-Sonora, Mexico border region. There is an ever-present tension between those in a position of power to regulate the entry and stay of undocumented border crossers in Arizona (aka show me your documents) and the international human rights laws that ensure that policies and practices do not place border crossers at an increased risk of human rights abuses. Undocumented border crossers are a vulnerable population who are uninformed and/or misinformed of the risks associated with being funneled into the hostile terrain of the Sonoran desert during migration from Mexico into Arizona. Upon crossing the international border this population is disproportionately targeted for questioning due to discriminatory racial and ethnic profiling by state and local law enforcement officials. Local policies and practices fueled by anti immigrant sentiment are a violation of the migrants' rights in international law. Such laws and practices promote structural violence as expressed in geographic segregation, unequal access to health care resources, unemployment, lower education and health literacy levels and poverty. Exemplars of policies and practices that serve to marginalize and increase risk of human rights abuses and/or protect migrants' human rights in this geopolitical region will be discussed.
Learning Areas:
Public health or related laws, regulations, standards, or guidelines
Public health or related organizational policy, standards, or other guidelines
Learning Objectives:
Describe the relationships between current laws, policies and practices specific to undocumented border crossers and the promotion of structural violence in the Arizona-Sonora region of the U.S.-Mexico border region.
Evaluate the interaction between increased militarization of the U.S.-Mexico border and migrants’ rights in international law.
Keyword(s): Human Rights, International
Presenting author's disclosure statement:Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have been the principal or co-principal investigator of multiple federally funded grants focusing on reducing health disparities among persons of Mexican origin who reside in the Arizona-Sonora,Mexico border region. Among my scientific interests has been exploring risk perceptions of Mexican immigrants diagnosed with Latent Tuberculosis Infection and risk perception of migrants crossing the Sonoran desert and exposing the assymetrical power relationships that contribute to human rights violations among these marginalized populations.
Any relevant financial relationships? No
I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines,
and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed
in my presentation.
