Failure of the State: Organised Crime and Mexico's Disappeared(15 Interdisciplinary Studies in Human Rights)

This Open Access book explores an issue that has received little attention in human rights research: organised criminal groups (OCGs) as perpetrators of human rights violations, especially disappearances. It takes an interdisciplinary approach, combining doctrinal legal research with a qualitative study on present-day disappearances in Mexico. Disappearances are a complex human rights violation that impacts not only the disappeared person but also their relatives, who are left in a limbo of uncertainty about their loved one’s fate. Originally part of state-led repression, today disappearances occur in varied contexts, often involving OCGs and other non-state actors. However, disappearances committed by non-state actors are not human rights violations under International Human Rights Law (IHRL), thereby potentially leaving a gap in the legal protection of victims. The book first analyses state obligations and case law involving state responsibility for human rights violations committed by non-state actors and applies the analysis to OCGs. This ‘internal’ legal perspective is complemented by an ‘external’ study based on interviews with human rights practitioners working on disappearances in Mexico, which often involve OCGs. The qualitative study offers a unique perspective on human rights protection ‘in reality’. The book adds to scholarship on non-state actors and disappearances, and to incipient international legal scholarship on the issue of organised crime and international law. Moreover, the study on Mexico provides a richer understanding of challenges faced by practitioners ‘on the ground’ where OCGs commit human rights violations alongside, or in collusion with, state forces and against the backdrop of an overall failure of the state. The book may be of interest to a diverse audience, including legal scholars and practitioners, human rights scholars in fields such as political science, international relations, or socio-legal studies, as well as funders supporting the work of NGOs in Mexico and similar contexts, and NGOs themselves.

Table of Contents:
1. Introduction.- 2. State Obligations Relating to Disappearances Committed by Non-State Actors.- 3. State Responsibility for Disappearances Committed by Non-State Actors.- 4. State Responsibility for Disappearances Committed by Organised Criminal Groups.- 5. The situation of disappearances in Mexico.- 6. Uncertainty, pragmatism, and frustration: the experiences of human rights practitioners working on disappearances in Mexico.- 7. Mexico’s protection failure.- 8. Conclusion.

About the Author :
Lene Guercke is a senior researcher for the Investigations Program at UC Berkeley's Human Rights Center. She holds a PhD in Law from KU Leuven and an MA in Human Rights from University College London. For several years, she worked as an independent consultant and researcher on diverse human rights issues.