National/International: Inter-American Court Rules Mexico Responsible for Sexual Torture of Women in Atenco

(@Centro ProDH)

On December 21st, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) determined that the Mexican State was responsible for the sexual torture of which 11 women were victims during a 2006 police operation in San Salvador Atenco, Mexico State.

It should be recalled that on May 3rd and 4th, 2006, police forces carried out an operation in San Salvador Atenco supposedly to “re-establish order” during a series of protests by the inhabitants over the construction of an airport. More than 200 people were arrested during the raids. 50 of them were women, 31 of whom later reported sexual assaults by the police.

“The use of force by the police authorities when arresting them was not legitimate or necessary, but it was also excessive and unacceptable due to the sexual and discriminatory nature of the aggressions suffered. The Court concluded that the indiscriminate use of force by the State in this case, as a result of an absence of adequate regulation, a lack of training of the agents, inefficient supervision and monitoring of the operation, and a misconception that violence of some justified the use of force against all”, the Court said.

It should be emphasized that the judgments of the IACHR are binding for Mexico, and therefore the State is obliged to comply with all the measures ordered by the Inter-American Court. The Miguel Agustin Pro Juárez Human Rights Center declared that, “with this historic sentence, the State has the possibility to put an end to impunity in the emblematic case of Atenco and to take concrete measures to prevent such violations of human rights from being reproduced in other contexts. The full and prompt compliance with the sentence announced by the Court today will be a clear sign of the new government’s commitment to human rights. Moreover, in a context in which the security model is under discussion in Mexico, with the intention of creating a militarized National Guard, the sentence issued by the Court in the Atenco case – as with the resolution published yesterday regarding the Alvarado case – obllige the Mexican Legislative Power to review the legislation that it intends to pass in light of the standards set by the Inter-American Court, which reinforce the perspective of citizen security of a civil nature and external supervision of security institutions.”

For more information in Spanish:

Comunicado MÉXICO ES RESPONSABLE POR TORTURA SEXUAL DE MUJERES EN ATENCO (Corte IDH, 21 de diciembre de 2018)

En sentencia histórica, Corte Interamericana ordena al Estado mexicano sancionar represión y tortura en Atenco (Centro ProDH, 21 de diciembre de 2018)

Ilegítimo e innecesario, el uso de la fuerza en Atenco: Corte Interamericana al notificar sentencia al Estado mexicano (Aristegui Noticias, 21 de diciembre de 2018)

Culpa Corte IDH al Estado por tortura de mujeres de Atenco (La Jornada, 21 de diciembre de 2018)

Responsabilidad internacional del Estado mexicano en actos de tortura contra 11 mujeres de Atenco: CoIDH (Proceso, 21 de diciembre de 2018)

Corte IDH: El Estado mexicano violó DDHH de mujeres en Atenco, cuando Peña gobernaba Edomex (Sin Embargo, 21 de diciembre de 2018)

CIDH responsabiliza al Estado por tortura sexual de 11 mujeres en Atenco (Radio Fórmula, 21 de diciembre de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

National: Hearing of Cases of Sexual Torture in San Salvador Atenco at IACHR Court (November 29th, 2017)

Mexico: IACHR Demands Investigation into Case of Female Victims of Sexual Abuse in Atenco in 2006 (October 10th, 2016)

 

 

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National/International: Marches for International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women

@CDMCh

On November 25th, as part of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, activities were held throughout the world as well as in several states of Mexico. This day was first promoted by the United Nations (UN) in 2009 to highlight the fact that “violence against women and girls is one of the most widespread, persistent and devastating human rights violations in the world today and that it is barely reported due to the impunity enjoyed by the perpetrators, and the silence, stigmatization and shame suffered by the victims.” The motto this year was “Orange the World: #HearMeToo”, calling on public opinion to “listen and believe the survivors, to put an end to the culture of silence and that our response be focused on survivors.”

In Mexico, marches were held in eight states. In Oaxaca, two years after the inauguration of Governor Alejandro Murat Hinojosa, women not only marched in the capital but also blocked the entry of the State Attorney General, criticizing that “nothing has changed” and “the simulation in the implementation of the gender alert, by not seeking justice, or attending to the victims.” According to the Consortium for Parliamentary Dialogue and Equity, femicide rates in Oaxaca have increased to 235 up to November 23rd, a fact that shows that “violence increases every day.”

In Guerrero, the protests of organizations, artists, journalists and social activists focused on the case of Valentina Rosendo Cantu with actions that began the day and will continue until December 10th, Human Rights Day. Valentina obtained a sentence against the military that raped and tortured her in July 2002 and continues to defend the rights of women in Guerrero. However, the “State is no guarantee to safeguard our rights,” said the Montaña Tlachinollan Human Rights Center, speaking of “an average of 4.5 cases [of femicides] per month” and that “this escalation of violence against us occurs in the middle of public thoroughfare, the perpetrators shoot their weapons without fear of being arrested and investigated.”

In San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas, a march was also held that closed the Sixth Assembly of the Movement in Defense of the Land, the Territory and for the Participation and Recognition of Women in Decisions. In their pronouncement, they demanded that the government “guarantee our right to land and participation in decision-making without mediation and without violence.” According to the Center for Women’s Rights (CDMCh in its Spanish acronym), there were “95 known cases of serious violence against women in Chiapas” between January and July 2018. Since 2015, Chiapas ranks “third place nationwide with the most violence against women.”

For more information in Spanish:

Por qué debemos eliminar la violencia contra la mujer (ONU)

Mensaje de la Secretaria General Adjunta de la ONU y Directora Ejecutiva de ONU Mujeres, 2018 (ONU)

Marchas en ocho entidades para erradicar la violencia contra mujeres (La Jornada, 26 de noviembre de 2018)

Feministas clausuran Fiscalía General de Oaxaca por su desatención a víctimas (Video) (La Minuta, 26 de noviembre de 2018)

Contra la violencia de género… a costa de nuestra vida (El Sur, 26 de noviembre de 2018)

Pronunciamiento 25 de noviembre “Día Internacional por la Eliminación de la Violencia en contra de las mujeres y niñas” (La Bridaga Feminista Lucero, 24 de noviembre de 2018)

Pronunciamiento del Movimiento en Defensa de la Tierra, el Territorio, por la Participación y el Reconocimiento de las Mujeres en las Decisiones (25 de noviembre de 2018)

Violencia contra Mujeres y Feminicidios en Chiapas (CDMCh, 25 de noviembre de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

National/International: “Green Tide” – Activists March for Free and Safe Abortion; Threatened across Republic (October 9th, 2018)

Oaxaca: Nine Femicides after 28 Days of Gender Violence Alert – Some Municipalities Yet to Implement Declaration (Oct. 2nd, 2018)

Oaxaca: Segob decrees Gender Violence Alert in Oaxaca for unfullfillment of governor Murat  (Sept. 18th, 2018)

Nacional : OSC denuncian omisiones en investigación y combate a feminicidios (Aug.16th, 2018)

National/International: “Final Observations on the Ninth Periodic Report from Mexico, the Convention for the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women” Published  (August 6th, 2018)

Chiapas : Reunión de evaluación de la Alerta de Violencia de Género sin participación de las organizaciones peticionarias (June 19th, 2018)

Guerrero: Femicides Rocket Despite Gender Violence Alert (July 12th, 2018)

Guerrero: Femicides on the Rise in 2017 (Jan. 26th, 2018)

Oaxaca: Special Comission to Investigate Femicidal Violence Set Up after Delays  (January 24th, 2018)

 

International/National: Mexico’s 2018 Universal Periodic Review (UPR)

United Nations, Geneva, Switzerland (@Animal Político)

On November 7th, as part of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the United Nations Human Rights Council, representatives from 108 countries made questions and recommendations on the subject to Mexico at the UN headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. The last review had been carried out in 2013.

The Mexican government delegation acknowledged that “considerable challenges” persist in the protection of human rights defenders and journalists, torture, forced disappearance, femicidal and anti-migrant violence, as well as impunity in the criminal justice system.

Undersecretary for Multilateral Affairs, Miguel Ruiz Cabañas, leader of the Mexican delegation for this UPR, said that “Mexico remains a country open to international scrutiny, and assured that the State will continue to work with civil society to address the recommendations made in this Review.” The Human Rights Council of the UN, based on this, will make recommendations for the Mexican State, which must answer those it will accept and those it will not for March 2019. It should be noted that by then the government of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) will be in office.

At the end of the session ColectivoEPUmx said that the participation of the States confirmed that the human rights crisis in Mexico persists. It summarized what was stated as follows: “the main issue of concern was the aggressions against and murders of human rights defenders and journalists and the lack of investigation and punishment of the perpetrators. Multiple observations were also made about the structural and institutional violence against women. The need to attack the high levels of violence, corruption and impunity was reiterated, considering that they are accurate and verifiable indicators in the fulfillment of responsibilities regarding the human rights of a State. In this logic, the need for a #FiscaliaQueSirva was reiterated and many concerns of the #SeguridadSinGuerra collective were repeated, such as the revision of the Internal Security Law.”

In view of the above, ColectivoEPU.mx called on the elected federal government to hold a public meeting once these recommendations have been issued and to strengthen the international cooperation for its implementation as well as “generating mechanisms that allow the implementation of the results of this exercise of the UPR and mechanisms to eradicate impunity.”

For more information in Spanish:

COMUNICADO | Consejo de Derechos Humanos de la ONU confirma crisis de DDHH en México (#ColectivoEPUmx, 7 de noviembre de 2018)

En EPU solicitan a México respuestas eficaces para proteger a periodistas y activistas (Aristegui Noticias, 7 de noviembre de 2018)

Persiste violencia estructural contra mujeres e impunidad: EPUmx (La Jornada, 7 de noviembre de 2018)

EPU 2018: México reconoce ante el mundo su deuda en Derechos Humanos; naciones señalan retos y deficiencias (Animal Político, 7 de noviembre de 2018)

EPU2018: Llegó el momento, gobierno de EPN se somete a su examen final sobre Derechos Humanos (Animal Político, 6 de noviembre de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

National: 245 NGO publicly present the “Joint Report for the Third Universal Periodic Review of Mexico”  (September 20th, 2018)

2018: México será examinado por el Consejo de Derechos Humanos de la ONU en el tercer ciclo del Examen Periódico Universal (EPU) (4 de abril de 2018)

National: 176 recommendations for Mexico during the second cycle of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR)  (November 13th, 2013)

Nacional: informe de OSC sobre DH rumbo al segundo Examen Periódico Universal (EPU) en octubre (12 de julio de 2013)

Chiapas: Judge Who Released Man Who Confessed to Femicide Dismissed

@ Twitter #TodosSomosViridians

On October 29th, a judge from the San Cristobal de Las Casas criminal court issued a sentence of absolution in favor of Omar Fernando Rosales Toledano, who confessed to femicide and had been accused of murdering Viridians Flores Ramirez, the mother of his son, in June 2013. Given the facts, the parents of the girl protested together with friends and family in front of the Judiciary. The judge was dismissed from his position and will be subject to an investigation process, as well as the secretary of agreements and the actuary involved in the sentence.

Rosales Toledo was held for five years in El Amate prison. His case had gained media relevance at the time of his arrest, since, before it, he worked as an assistant to the senator of the Green Ecologist Party of Mexico (PVEM), Luis Armando Melgar.

The parents of Viridians have denounced a series of irregularities throughout the process. Before the release, the father of the victim stated that: “It is in these situations where justice is justified by one’s own hand, one feels frustrated, one expects them to act with rectitude and honesty, attached to the law, however, they release the criminals, and now we have to take care of ourselves because we are threatened for denouncing injustice.”

In Chiapas there have been more than 28 femicides so far in 2018.

For more information in Spanish:

Tras protestas, cesan a jueza que liberó a un feminicida confeso en Chiapas (Proceso, 30 de octubre de 2018)

En Chiapas dejan libre a feminicida confeso (Chiapas Paralelo, 30 de octubre de 2018)

Posicionamiento del Consejo de la Judicatura del Poder Judicial del Estado (Poder Judicial del Estado, 30 de octubre de 2018)

Corrupción garantiza impunidad a feminicidas en Chiapas (Revolución 3.0, 30 de octubre de 2018)

Liberan a feminicida de Viridiana Flores (SDP Noticias, 29 de octubre de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas/National: Femicides on the Rise (May 24th, 2018)

 

National / International: Caravan of migrants from Honduras arrives in Mexico

Caravan of migrants from Honduras (@AFP)

On October 19, thousands of Honduran migrants entered Mexico where, according to media reports, they were greeted by tear gas. On October 13, they had left in a caravan from San Pedro Sula in the North of Honduras with the intention of arriving in Mexico to continue later to the United States. According to information from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Mexico (UN-DH), the caravan is made up of more than 3,000 people – including minors, women and seniors – fleeing violence, poverty and human rights violations in their country.

This Caravan has provoked the anger of the President of the United States, Donald Trump, who has called on the Central American countries and the Mexican authorities to do everything necessary to stop them, even threatening to suspend the financial support given to them.

Since October 17, the Mexican authorities had sent some 240 members of the Federal Police to the southern border so as to accompany an operation of the National Institute of Migration, which would include the observation of the National Commission of Human Rights (CNDH). For its part, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE) announced that migrants would be treated in accordance with the law and with respect to their human rights: those who have a passport or visa will enter as well as those who submit refugee applications while those who violate the law will be deported. The head of the SRE, Luis Videgaray, also announced that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was asked to help Mexico to process these requests and to find a permanent solution.

In light of what happened on the 19th, the Secretary of the Interior, Alfonso Navarrete, indicated that an agreement had been reached with the migrants for them to enter Mexico in an “orderly manner”, in groups of between 50 and 100 people to be reviewed, but that the Caravan “broke the agreement” by trying to enter Mexico “by force” and “hurting” Mexican police.

On the other hand, several civil and social organizations, as well as churches, have expressed the need to respect migrants’ human rights and calling for solidarity.

For more information (in Spanish):

TUMBEMOS EL MURO. PRONUNCIAMIENTO DEL CNI-CIG EN APOYO A LA CARAVANA DE MIGRANTES (20 de octubre de 2018)

Ante crisis humanitaria, exigimos a los gobiernos de GUatemala y de México, respeto a los derechos que tienen las personas migrantes (OSC, 19 de octubre de 2018)

La caravana de migrantes entra en territorio mexicano (El País, 19 de octubre de 2018)

Qué busca la caravana migrante y por qué México los recibe con 200 policías para impedir su paso (Animal Político, 19 de octubre de 2018)

La policía mexicana lanzó gases contra los migrantes, según un VIDEO de periodistas en la zona (Sin Embargo, 19 de octubre de 2018)

México recibe a la avanzada de la Caravana Migrante; llegan las primeras peticiones de asilo (Sin Embargo, 19 de octubre de 2018)

Policía Federal frena irrupción de caravana migrante a México (La Jornada, 19 de octubre de 2018)

Detienen en Chiapas a Irineo Mújica, activista defensor de migrantes (La Jornada, 18 de octubre de 2018)

Gobierno mexicano atiende solicitudes de refugio para migrantes hondureños (La Jornada, 18 de octubre de 2018)

EN RESPUESTA A LA LLEGADA DE LA CARAVANA DE HONDURAS A TAPACHULA, CHIAPAS (OSC, 18 de octubre de 2018)

¿CARAVANA O ÉXODO DE MIGRANTES? (CELAM, 18 de octubre de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

National / International: Mexico, migration filter? September 21, 2018

National/International: OSC Asks for Suspension of Agreement with US to Convert Mexico into “Migration Filter” in Return for Favors in Renegotiation of NAFTA June 25, 2018

National: 84 Organizations and Collectives Oppose Gendarmerie at Southern Border April 30, 2018

Mexico – National/International: Latest Amnesty International Report on the Deadly Return of Central American Asylum Seekers from Mexico February 15, 2018

Chiapas/National: Girls Struggling and Changing the World

(@Melel  Xojobal)

On October 11th and 12th, 41 girls, adolescents and youths from Mexico City, Chiapas, Guanajuato, Hidalgo, Jalisco, Michoacan, Oaxaca, Puebla and Veracruz, as well as several civil organizations that work with children, participated in San Cristobal de Las Casas in the First National Encounter of Girls and Adolescents “Girls Struggling and Transforming The World “. The aim of the event was “to reflect on what is happening in our country” and to look for “solutions through our participation, sharing experiences, living together and learning about our rights, to recognize and exercise them, based on feminism.”

In the final declaration of the event, the participants expressed that “it causes us sadness to see how male chauvinism and the patriarchal system influence femicides, forced marriages, teenage pregnancies, gender discrimination. We feel powerless because although we are generating changes, we cannot transform situations that violate the rights and dignity of all girls, adolescents and young women in Mexico, such as sexual harassment or abuse or dating violence.”

They demanded that the authorities “exercise their office in a correct manner. That they install more surveillance cameras in the cities, to prevent femicide and sexual harassment”; that the protection attorneys “give us fair treatment and help us when we denounce whether we are beaten or mistreated”; that companies “pay a fair and equal salary for women and men”; and that society in general, “eliminate the stereotypes that exist about women and be open to other ways of thinking and acting.”

For more information in Spanish:

Construyen acciones para erradicar abusos contra la niñez (Ultimatum, 11 de octubre de 2018)

Declaratoria del Primer Encuentro Nacional de Niñas y Adolescentes “Las niñas luchando y al mundo transformando” (13 de octubre de 2018)

Niños y jóvenes demandan mayor seguridad (Cuarto Poder, 14 de octubre de 2018)

National/International: “Green Tide” – Activists March for Free and Safe Abortion; Threatened across Republic

Photo @SIPAZ

On September 28th, within the framework of the Global Day of Action for a legal and safe abortion, feminist marches were organized in several cities of the Mexican Republic as well as throughout Latin America. The movement called the “Green Tide” demands that abortion be legalized not only in cases of sexual violence or a risk to the health or life of the mother but extensively and that it be free. Although in some Latin American countries abortion is already legalized (Cuba, Uruguay, Guyana and French Guiana) in the vast majority it is only possible under certain conditions. In addition, in Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Haiti termination of pregnancy is illegal and women face years and sometimes decades of prison if they abort.

However, regardless of their legality, abortions occur, often in clandestine circumstances that, as a study by the Guttmacher Institute indicates, “put women’s health at risk and consume scarce resources.” According to its calculations, between 750 thousand and one million clandestine abortions are performed annually. Not infrequently they are carried out by minors, and in no other country in the world are there more childhood pregnancies than in Mexico. According to data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), 65% of Mexican women between the ages of 15 and 19 already have at least one child.

In Mexico, demonstrations were held in Toluca, Morelos Guadalajara, Tepic, San Cristobal de Las Casas, Oaxaca and Veracruz, among other cities. The largest of these occurred in Mexico City with thousands of participants, mainly women but also some men.

In the context of a tense debate about the possibility of legalization, several incidents, threats and aggressions against the organizers of the marches occurred. In Mexico City some drivers tried to block the marches.

In San Cristobal de Las Casas, women received threats since March of this year, which “put at risk [their] lives and [their] right to freedom of expression.” They denounced that “a secret group in the social network Facebook called “Motonetos to the rescue “, (…) that is formed mostly of men” has “shared screenshots of, at least six activists.” The men threatened to “lynch the activists alive”, as well as spraying them with gasoline and setting them on fire. The direct threats forced feminist activists and groups to change the date of the march that took place one day before the Day of Global Action. The organizers asked the government for precautionary measures, so the municipal and state police, state transit, urban mobility and the public ministry were present. In the end the march ended in the Zocalo de San Cristobal without excesses or acts of violence.

For more information in Spanish:

La marea verde en la CDMX: mujeres marchan por la legalización del aborto en México (Animal Político, 28 de septiembre 2018)

Oleaje de Marea Verde llega a Oaxaca ; Piden aborto legal (El Universal, 23 de septiembre de 2018)

Activistas pro aborto legal activan la “Marea Verde” en Oaxaca (El Universal, 28 de septiembre de 2018)

México primer lugar en embarazo infantil (El Sol de Toluca, 19 de abril de 2018)

Embarazo no planeado y aborto inducido en México: causas y consecuencias (Instituto Guttmacher, Noviembre 2013)

Abortos clandestinos en México: las cifras y las alternativas (El Diario, 20 de agosto de 2018)

Pronunciamiento sobre las amenazas que hemos recibido defensoras de los derechos sexuales y reproductivos en SCLC, Chiapas (Aborto legal para decidir SCLC, 20 de septiembre de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Oaxaca: Nine Femicides after 28 Days of Gender Violence Alert – Some Municipalities Yet to Implement Declaration (Oct. 2nd, 2018)

Oaxaca: Segob decrees Gender Violence Alert in Oaxaca for unfullfillment of governor Murat  (Sept. 18th, 2018)

National/International: “Final Observations on the Ninth Periodic Report from Mexico, the Convention for the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women” Published  (Aug. 6th, 2018)

Guerrero: Femicides Rocket Despite Gender Violence Alert (July 12th, 2018)

Guerrero: Femicides on the Rise in 2017 (Jan. 26th, 2018)

Oaxaca: Special Comission to Investigate Femicidal Violence Set Up after Delays  (Jan.24th, 2018)