Mexico’s southern states of Chiapas, Oaxaca and Guerrero have witnessed forced internal displacement caused by a number of insurgencies seeking cultural and territorial autonomy and by national security forces using repressive measures to defeat them.

Between 5,000 and 8,000 people are still displaced in Chiapas by the Zapatista uprising and the ongoing campaign to defeat the Zapatistas. A political settlement is needed to solve the situation and to enable durable solutions for the internally displaced people (IDPs). While the scale of displacement in Oaxaca and Guerrero has not been determined, the events which triggered displacement â€" including human rights violations by the army and local disputes over land and territory â€" are ongoing, and make solutions unlikely.

In all three states, thousands of people have been displaced by disputes within indigenous communities struggling to adapt to social changes, and by intercommunal disputes fought along religious and political party lines. Some of the victims of these disputes have found refuge and integrated in nearby villages, while others have fled to urban centres with mixed results.

Although the government has the means to address internal displacement effectively, its responses indicate a lack of will to find lasting solutions. An encouraging step was the allocation of a modest budget for the National Commission for the Development of Indigenous Peoples (CDI) which has provided support to enable some of those displaced by local community clashes buy land and build shelter. Forced displacement is now recognised as a phenomenon that needs to be addressed in order to solve some of Mexico’s political conflicts, but a much more systematic approach is needed to provide durable solutions for all of Mexico’s IDPs.



Read the full Report on Internal Displacement in Mexico