Introduction

Mexico has been one of the principle promoters of the ICRMW since its conception in the late 1970s. During the drafting of the Convention, Mexico's principle interest was to create an instrument to advocate for the human rights protection of Mexican migrants resident in the United States. While this remains true today, Mexico has since become a major transit country for migrants attempting to reach the United States, and to a lesser extent, a destination country. As such, it is in the complex situation of applying the Convention to different groups of migrants requiring specific forms of protection.

This chapter first reviews Mexico's historical role in the creation and ratification of the Convention. It discusses the dramatic increases of Mexican migrants to the United States in recent years, the development of transit migration through Mexico and the situation for migrants within the country. It reviews some of the principle human rights violations that are specifically covered by the Convention and their relevance to the Mexican situation. Finally, it describes how Mexico plans to move towards compliance with the Convention.

Background

As of 2006, there were approximately 27 million immigrants of Mexican origin resident in the United States, more than 11.5 million of whom were born in Mexico. Each year, this population grows by 400,000 to 485,000 irregular migrants, with an additional 90,000 Mexicans who migrate through work or family visas (Passel, 2005).