Mexican humanitarian assistance system

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Mexican humanitarian assistance system

R. Reynoso

The Mexican military, using its existing capabilities, has been able to successfully deploy in support of international HA/DR missions over the last four decades. While the recipients of this assistance have praised Mexico's contributions to these international efforts, there is room for improvement in how Mexico integrates its forces into international humanitarian responses. This monograph presents an analysis of the Mexican policies, objectives, and strategies in humanitarian assistance. It contrasts Mexico's performance in the humanitarian assistance mission in Haiti following the January 2010 earthquake and suggests three areas in which Mexico could make substantive efforts to improve its humanitarian assistance system. First, Mexico's government should develop policies and doctrine that align Mexico's humanitarian assistance efforts with established international protocols. Second, the federal government should establish an organization with the means to integrate the planning, preparation, and execution of government agencies, the military, and participating non-governmental organizations. Finally, Mexico should pursue the implementation of a training strategy to integrate the preparation of government agencies and military forces to participate in international humanitarian responses and should collect lessons learned from responding elements to further improve training and execution.