Mexican Journalist Lydia Cacho Receives Prestigious French Award

Latin American Herald Tribune, 3/13/2013

The French government named Mexican journalist and activist Lydia Cacho a Knight of the Legion of Honor for her work on behalf of children’s and women’s rights, and for her contribution to freedom of expression.

The honor was awarded Friday on the occasion of International Women’s Day by the French ambassador to Mexico, Elisabeth Beton Delegue, during a ceremony at the diplomat’s residence in the Mexican capital.

Read more…

Femicide cases increase in 9 states (Spanish)

El Universal 2/14/2012

Las nueve entidades que registran una tendencia creciente de homicidios de mujeres son Chiapas, Chihuahua, Distrito Federal, Durango, Guerrero, Michoacán, Oaxaca, Sinaloa y Sonora, según un estudio presentado por la subsecretaria de Derechos Humanos de la Secretaría de Gobernación, Lía Limón, en el Senado de la República.

El estudio también analiza las particularidades de cada zona. En el noreste del país, por ejemplo, una mujer de 20 a 24 años tiene 39 veces más riesgo de morir por homicidio, que una mujer de la misma edad de la zona centro del país.

Read more…

Violence puts Mexico among worst G20 countries for women

Katherine Baldwin, Trust Law, 6/13/2012

Physical and sexual violence, a culture of male chauvinism, drug-related crime and poor access to healthcare in rural areas mean Mexico is among the worst places to be a woman out of the world’s most industrialised nations, a Thomson Reuters Foundation global survey of experts found on Wednesday.

The rash of unresolved murders of women in border towns like Ciudad Juarez and sexual attacks on migrant women contributed to Mexico’s poor ranking, despite the country’s economic progress and international prominence, experts said.

Read more…

Human remains of 12 near Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, are girls, women

Los Angeles Times,4/17/16

Authorities in violence-plagued Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, say the skeletal remains of 12 people found in the area in recent months are those of girls and women, stirring fresh worry that someone is preying on young females in the border city.

The special prosecutor assigned to investigate crimes against women said in a statement Monday that it used DNA to identify six of the victims, who were between 15 and 19 years old. The teens were reported missing in 2009 and 2010, officials said.

Forensics testing has so far been unable to identify the other remains. Decomposition had reduced them largely to bones by the time they were found in a rural area outside Ciudad Juarez, which borders El Paso, in January and February.

Read more…

‘War on women’ in Mexico described as growing worse since escalation of drug war

El Paso Times, 4/7/12

Violence against women in Mexico grew worse during the country’s war against the drug cartels, according to the preliminary findings of a recent fact-finding delegation led by two Nobel laureates.

The delegation from the Nobel Women’s Initiative also found that the same trend of violence against women holds true for Honduras and Guate mala, where Mexico-based drug-trafficking organizations have extended their operations. “The war on drugs and increased militarization in Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala is becoming a war on women,” said Jody Williams, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 for her work to ban land mines.

“The government’s efforts to improve ‘security’ in the region have directly resulted in insecurity for civilian populations, and most especially, for women,” she said. The Canada-based Nobel Women’s Initiative has followed the evolution of violence against women in Juárez.

Read more…

Mexico judge orders probe into killings of women

Associated Press, 3/7/12

A judge has ordered Mexican authorities to investigate the killings of women in the suburbs of Mexico City, reviving a sensitive issue related to a former governor who is a leading candidate in the presidential race.

Judge Jose Alvarado ruled a national, multi-government agency formed to fight violence against women should reconsider a request by activists to declare a state of alert for central Mexico State, women’s rights activist Maria de la Luz Estrada said Tuesday. Human rights groups say hundreds of women have been killed or gone missing in recent years in that state, which lies next to Mexico City and is home to 13 million people.

Estrada said her group has documented more than 1,000 killings of women during the six-year administration of former Gov. Enrique Pena Nieto, who is a leading contender in the July 1 presidential election.

Read more…

Violent death rate among women in Nuevo León increases (in Spanish)

El Financiero, 9/29/2010

The number of violent deaths among women in Nuevo León in 2010 has reached 49, almost half of which were related to organized crime, said the president of the State Institute of Women (IEM), María Elena Chapa Hernández. The state official said solutions are urgent, because the number will continue to rise.

“In 2009, there were 40 violent deaths among women and now, as of September 29, there have been 49. Twenty-two of the deaths are related to organized crime; the rest are the result of domesic violence,” she added.

Read more…