Agrarian Conflict, Internal Displacement, and Trafficking of Mexican Women: The Case of Chiapas State

Arunkumar Acharya, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Some 40,000 indigenous people have been internally displaced due to agrarian conflict of Chiapas during 1994 to 2002. People who leave their lands and homes due to conflict, are currently living in appalling condition, and many displaced families are living together in a subhuman condition. In majority of cases displaced people cannot cultivate their land, either because, the paramilitaries make it impossible, or, no sufficient land. This impossibility, make them suffer from poverty and subjected them towards exploitation. To escape from poverty and conflict, parents sell their daughter in hope of a better life. Every year about 3,000 young girls from Chiapas trafficked to Mexico city and Cancun, where more of them are below the age of consent (Menendez, 2001). So, this paper attempts to show the effect of agrarian conflict on trafficking of women with relation to internal displacement of people in Chiapas, using the primary and secondary information.