Page 235 - El État de los derechos humanos en las relaciones familiares

ÉTAT DE LOS DERECHOS HUMANOS EN LAS RELACIONES FAMILIARES

opportunities for corruption and the poor functioning of the criminal justice system; and,
the cultural, with the set of attitudes and values in front of the authorities and the law.

In the case of the first two dimensions, the University of the Americas Puebla (2015:

Presentation) abuses impunity as one of the most serious national problems, as well as a

multidimensional and multifactorial phenomenon that manifests itself on a daily basis, and
consists of:

[...] a complex issue that involves two critical sectors for the public responsibility of States:

security and justice institutions. When countries face structural and functional problems, in

these two areas, we are in the forefront of a phenomenon that feeds back insecurity, violence,

corruption and serious violations of human rights.

Impunity can be defined in a very simple way from its etymological root "crime without

punishment". However, it is intimately related to inequality in access to justice, inadequate

institutional designs, lack of organizational capacities, as well as contempt for the rights of

citizens. Those countries that do not work to improve their institutions and public policies -
which allow deep economic inequalities and access to security and justice- face the risk of

provoking public security crises, high levels of violence and systematic violations of human

rights.

The results of the Global Impunity Index of the same house of studies (Ibid: Executive
Summary), highlight that the lack of punishment or non-existence, in fact or in law, of

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