Internal displacement and trafficking of indigenous women in Mexico

Arunkumar Acharya, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Some 40,000 indigenous people have been displaced due to agrarian conflict in Chiapas state of Mexico during 1994 to 2002. People who leave their lands and homes because of conflict, are currently living in appalling conditions and many displaced families are living together in subhuman conditions. In the majority of cases displaced people cannot cultivate their land, because, the paramilitaries make it impossible. This has led to greater poverty in the region and subjected such groups to greater exploitation. To escape from poverty and conflict, some parents have sold their daughters in hope of a better life. Every year about 3,000 women from Chiapas are trafficked to Mexico City and Cancun, with the majority of them being well below the age of consent. This paper attempts to show the effect the displacement of people has had on the trafficking of indigenous women in Mexico, base on primary and secondary information.