Violence, Free Trade Agreements, Corporations and Human Rights

Abstract

Since the Latin American Council for Peace Research (CLAIP) initiated activities, collective violence has been conceptualised not only as material and physical, which is more than evident in most cases, but also as structural and economic, in which many of our peoples are immersed. It is widely known that this economic violence manifests in a refunctionalised State which favours private and exclusive interests , causes serious violations of human rights , amputates integrity and disrupts fundamental social and cultural aspects of the life of individuals and communities. This makes people live in constant fear, enduring not only inequity and inequality , but also impunity , corruption and a spiral of violence characterised by its institutionalisation and aggressiveness as well as being reactive and repressive. This structural violence is, in this sense, also the cause and effect of other types of violence. Violence is not univocal or equivocal but analogue. Thus, it is multiple and diverse, interacting with different dimensions of the economic, social, political and cultural life of peoples and persons.

Prof. Dr. Miguel Concha Malo, Director General Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Francisco de Vitoria OP, A.C., Professor of the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences, Accountancy and Administration of UNAM. Email: miguelconchamalofr@gmail.com.