Environmental injustice and human rights violations in Jalisco, Mexico

Abstract

Environmental injustice disrupts the human rights of populations. This article focuses on the state of Jalisco, Mexico, a territory in which 70% of human rights violations were recorded in environmental matters between 2016 and 2019. The objective is to analyze the recommendations issued by the Jalisco State Human Rights Commission in terms of violation of the rights to a healthy environment from 2000 to 2022. For this purpose, a qualitative analysis was carried out through newspaper data from this institution, which were systematized in analytical categories according to types of environmental injustice. In addition, three emblematic cases of human rights violations in this area were presented. The findings show that recommendations are linked to situations of contamination of water bodies, lack of water supply, and water privatization; with the loss of biodiversity or with related affectations; and with the poor management of urban solid waste. These problems occur particularly through processes of unequal distribution of environmental impacts and the exclusion of affected people from decision-making. The results show the slow process of recognition at the institutional level to point out the transgression of the right to a healthy environment in Jalisco.