On November 1st, 2022, within the context of the Day of the Dead in San Cristobal de Las Casas, the organizations Melel Xojobal and the Network for the Rights of Children and Adolescents in Chiapas (REDIAS) organized a commemoration for the girls, boys and adolescents who lost their lives due to diverse acts of violence. The main reasons for the high numbers of youth homicides were: femicide, suicide, disappearance, forced displacement and murder with firearms.
Therefore, with this event it was intended to call on society to highlight the issue. With the installation of an altar in honor of the deceased children, the organizations sought to highlight the prevailing injustice and lack of truth, as well as the complicity of the authorities with respect to violence against children. โToday, we light a light in memory of those girls, boys and adolescents who should not have died, we name them and remember them fighting daily to build a world in which dignity, tenderness and respect for the rights of children and adolescents become custom.”
Chiapas alone registers an average of 45 disappearances of Boys, Girls and Adolescents per month, with a total of 403 cases: 103 remain unaccounted for. In addition, the time window from 2015 to 2022 shows that around 212 murders of children and adolescents were recorded in the state. 75% of the cases were from indigenous peoples and half were female adolescents between 12 and 17 years old. This problem mainly affects the municipalities of Tuxtla Gutierrez, San Cristobal de Las Casas, Tapachula, Palenque and Comitan de Domรญnguez.
For more information in Spanish:
#MuerteImpune, denuncian cientos de muertes de niรฑos, niรฑas y adolescentes que no debieron ocurrir (Chiapas Paralelo, 2 de noviembre 2022)
Con un altar, piden atenciรณn (Diario de Chiapas, 3 de Noviembre 2022)
For more information from SIPAZ:
sipazen.wordpress.com 