Mexico ranks highly on many of the measures that have proven significant for creating a positive human rights record, including democratization, good health and life expectancy, and engagement in the global economy. Yet the nation's most vulnerable populations suffer human rights abuses on a large scale, such as gruesome killings in the Mexican drug war, decades of violent feminicide, migrant deaths in the U.S. desert, and the ongoing effects of the failed detention and deportation system in the States. Some atrocities have received extensive and sensational coverage, while others have become routine or simply ignored by national and international media. Binational Human Rights examines both well-known and understudied instances of human rights crises in Mexico, arguing that these abuses must be understood not just within the context of Mexican policies but in relation to the actions or inactions of other nations—particularly the United States. The United States and Mexico share the longest border in the world between a developed and a developing nation; the relationship between the two nations is complex, varied, and constantly changing, but the policies of each directly affect the human rights situation across the border. Binational Human Rights brings together leading scholars and human rights activists from the United States and Mexico to explain the mechanisms by which a perfect storm of structural and policy factors on both sides has led to such widespread human rights abuses. Through ethnography, interviews, and legal and economic analysis, contributors shed new light on the feminicides in Ciudad Juárez, the drug war, and the plight of migrants from Central America and Mexico to the United States. The authors make clear that substantial rhetorical and structural shifts in binational policies are necessary to significantly improve human rights. Contributors: Alejandro Anaya Muñoz, Luis Alfredo Arriola Vega, Timothy J. Dunn, Miguel Escobar-Valdez, Clara Jusidman, Maureen Meyer, Carol Mueller, Julie A. Murphy Erfani, William Paul Simmons, Kathleen Staudt, Michelle Téllez.

Mexico ranks highly on many of the measures that have proven significant for creating a positive human rights record, including democratization, good health and life expectancy, and engagement in the global economy. Yet the nation's most vulnerable populations suffer human rights abuses on a large scale, such as gruesome killings in the Mexican drug war, decades of violent feminicide, migrant deaths in the U.S. desert, and the ongoing effects of the failed detention and deportation system in the States. Some atrocities have received extensive and sensational coverage, while others have become routine or simply ignored by national and international media. Binational Human Rights examines both well-known and understudied instances of human rights crises in Mexico, arguing that these abuses must be understood not just within the context of Mexican policies but in relation to the actions or inactions of other nations—particularly the United States. The United States and Mexico share the longest border in the world between a developed and a developing nation; the relationship between the two nations is complex, varied, and constantly changing, but the policies of each directly affect the human rights situation across the border. Binational Human Rights brings together leading scholars and human rights activists from the United States and Mexico to explain the mechanisms by which a perfect storm of structural and policy factors on both sides has led to such widespread human rights abuses. Through ethnography, interviews, and legal and economic analysis, contributors shed new light on the feminicides in Ciudad Juárez, the drug war, and the plight of migrants from Central America and Mexico to the United States. The authors make clear that substantial rhetorical and structural shifts in binational policies are necessary to significantly improve human rights. Contributors: Alejandro Anaya Muñoz, Luis Alfredo Arriola Vega, Timothy J. Dunn, Miguel Escobar-Valdez, Clara Jusidman, Maureen Meyer, Carol Mueller, Julie A. Murphy Erfani, William Paul Simmons, Kathleen Staudt, Michelle Téllez.

Studying institutional development is not only about empowering communities to withstand political buccaneering; it is also about generating effective and democratic governance so that all members of a community can enjoy the benefits of social life. In the U.S.-Mexico borderlands, cross-border governance draws only sporadic—and even erratic—attention, primarily in times of crises, when governance mechanisms can no longer provide even moderately adequate solutions. This volume addresses the most pertinent binational issues and how they are dealt with by both countries. In this important and timely volume, experts tackle the important problem of cross-border governance by an examination of formal and informal institutions, networks, processes, and mechanisms. Contributors also discuss various social, political, and economic actors and agencies that make up the increasingly complex governance space that is the U.S.-Mexico border. Binational Commons focuses on whether the institutions that presently govern the U.S.-Mexico transborder space are effective in providing solutions to difficult binational problems as they manifest themselves in the borderlands. Critical for policy-making now and into the future, this volume addresses key binational issues. It explores where there are strong levels of institutional governance development, where it is failing, how governance mechanisms have evolved over time, and what can be done to improve it to meet the needs of the U.S.-Mexico borderlands in the next decades. Contributors Silvia M. Chavez-Baray Kimberly Collins Irasema Coronado Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera Pamela L. Cruz Adrián Duhalt James Gerber Manuel A. Gutiérrez Víctor Daniel Jurado Flores Evan D. McCormick Jorge Eduardo Mendoza Cota Miriam S. Monroy Eva M. Moya Stephen Mumme Tony Payan Carla Pederzini Villarreal Sergio Peña Octavio Rodríguez Ferreira Cecilia Sarabia Ríos Kathleen Staudt

In popular, legal, and academic discourses, the term "human rights" is now almost always discussed in relation to its opposite: human rights abuses. Syllabi, textbooks, and articles focus largely on victimization and trauma, with scarcely a mention of a positive dimension. Joy, especially, is often discounted and disregarded. William Paul Simmons asserts that there is a time and place—and necessity—in human rights work for being joyful. Joyful Human Rights leads us to challenge human rights' foundations afresh. Focusing on joy shifts the way we view victims, perpetrators, activists, and martyrs; and mitigates our propensity to express paternalistic or heroic attitudes toward human rights victims. Victims experience joy—indeed, it is often what sustains them and, in many cases, what best facilitates their recovery from trauma. Instead of reducing individuals merely to victim status or the tragedies they have experienced, human rights workers can help harmed individuals reclaim their full humanity, which includes positive emotions such as joy. A joy-centered approach provides new insights into foundational human rights issues such as motivations of perpetrators , trauma and survivorship, the work of social movements and activists, philosophical and historical origins of human rights, and the politicization of human rights. Many concepts rarely discussed in the field play important roles here, including social erotics, clowning, dancing, expressive arts therapy, posttraumatic growth, and the Buddhist terms metta (loving kindness) and mudita (sympathetic joy). Joyful Human Rights provides a new framework—one based upon a more comprehensive understanding of human experiences—for theorizing and practicing a more affirmative and robust notion of human rights.

In popular, legal, and academic discourses, the term "human rights" is now almost always discussed in relation to its opposite: human rights abuses. Syllabi, textbooks, and articles focus largely on victimization and trauma, with scarcely a mention of a positive dimension. Joy, especially, is often discounted and disregarded. William Paul Simmons asserts that there is a time and place—and necessity—in human rights work for being joyful. Joyful Human Rights leads us to challenge human rights' foundations afresh. Focusing on joy shifts the way we view victims, perpetrators, activists, and martyrs; and mitigates our propensity to express paternalistic or heroic attitudes toward human rights victims. Victims experience joy—indeed, it is often what sustains them and, in many cases, what best facilitates their recovery from trauma. Instead of reducing individuals merely to victim status or the tragedies they have experienced, human rights workers can help harmed individuals reclaim their full humanity, which includes positive emotions such as joy. A joy-centered approach provides new insights into foundational human rights issues such as motivations of perpetrators , trauma and survivorship, the work of social movements and activists, philosophical and historical origins of human rights, and the politicization of human rights. Many concepts rarely discussed in the field play important roles here, including social erotics, clowning, dancing, expressive arts therapy, posttraumatic growth, and the Buddhist terms metta (loving kindness) and mudita (sympathetic joy). Joyful Human Rights provides a new framework—one based upon a more comprehensive understanding of human experiences—for theorizing and practicing a more affirmative and robust notion of human rights.

The purpose of the role of binational entrepreneurs as social and economic bridge builders between Europe and North Africa is to show academics and practitioners the importance of the role of European bi-nationals. It contains chapters by professional practitioners from a number of countries and businesses, and from journalists and security agency members. The main issues discussed are the principle features of successful integration of North African immigrants into French and Spanish societies and the causes and symptoms of dysfunctional integration; how a partnership network can be established between the Maghreb diaspora in France and Spain and their parent countries, what the obstacles of such a network are and what can be used to develop it; how emigrants of dual nationality are viewed in their countries of origin and how the process of social reintegration can be assured; if dual nationals can play a role in giving an impetus to economic growth in North African countries and if France and Spain can adopt measures to facilitate this process; the respective roles of government and NGOs and international organizations; and how relevant the lessons are that can be learned from this case study to the relationships between other immigrant populations and their host countries. This book includes some suggestions for action discussed in the workshop prior to this publication.

Thanks to hundreds of interviews with Mexican deportees, this book puts a real face on discussions of immigration and border policies--Provided by publisher.

This report documents how U.S immigration law and federal policy discriminate against binational same-sex couples. The 191-page report documents the consequences of this discrimination and shows how it can separate not only loving partners from one another, but also parents from children. It also shows how this policy has destroyed careers, livelihoods and lives.

The open access publication of this book has been published with the support of the Swiss National Science Foundation. This book offers a comprehensive analysis of the right to citizenship in international and regional human rights law. It critically reflects on the limitations of state sovereignty in nationality matters and situates the right to citizenship within the existing human rights framework. It identifies the scope and content of the right to citizenship by looking not only at statelessness, deprivation of citizenship or dual citizenship, but more broadly at acquisition, loss and enjoyment of citizenship in a migration context. Exploring the intersection of international migration, human rights law and belonging, the book provides a timely argument for recognizing a right to the citizenship of a specific state on the basis of one’s effective connections to that state according to the principle of jus nexi.

"Jusionyte explores the sister towns bisected by the border from many angles in this illuminating and poignant exploration of a place and situation that are little discussed yet have significant implications for larger political discourse."—Publishers Weekly, STARRED Review Emergency responders on the US-Mexico border operate at the edges of two states. They rush patients to hospitals across country lines, tend to the broken bones of migrants who jump over the wall, and put out fires that know no national boundaries. Paramedics and firefighters on both sides of the border are tasked with saving lives and preventing disasters in the harsh terrain at the center of divisive national debates. Ieva Jusionyte’s firsthand experience as an emergency responder provides the background for her gripping examination of the politics of injury and rescue in the militarized region surrounding the US-Mexico border. Operating in this area, firefighters and paramedics are torn between their mandate as frontline state actors and their responsibility as professional rescuers, between the limits of law and pull of ethics. From this vantage they witness what unfolds when territorial sovereignty, tactical infrastructure, and the natural environment collide. Jusionyte reveals the binational brotherhood that forms in this crucible to stand in the way of catastrophe. Through beautiful ethnography and a uniquely personal perspective, Threshold provides a new way to understand politicized issues ranging from border security and undocumented migration to public access to healthcare today.