[women-rights] Mexico: Justice and safety for the women of Ciudad Juárez

* News Release Issued by the International Secretariat of Amnesty
International *

5 October 2002
AMR 41/032/2002


The 200 plus women killed since 1993 in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua
state, deserve justice, and all the women living and working in
and around the same city deserve protection from violence,
Amnesty International said today.

       The statement came as women from all over the world
gather in Guadalajara, Mexico, for the International Forum of the
Association for Women's Rights and Development, from 3 to 6
October.

       In 1998 the National Commission of Human Rights (Comisión
Nacional de Derechos Humanos, CNDH) issued a recommendation to
the authorities requiring thorough and effective investigations
to clarify the circumstances of the murders of women in Ciudad
Juárez, asking for all those responsible to be brought to
justice, and for public officials who had failed in their duty to
investigate these cases to also be investigated and punished.

       "Despite the years that have passed since the CNDH
recommendation, further murders, and the endorsement of the
recommendation by Inter-american and UN mechanisms, the
authorities have failed to comply fully, leaving the victims and
their families without redress and the population of Ciudad
Juárez in fear," Amnesty International said.

       The detentions heralded by the authorities as the
solution to the cases, have failed to stop the killings and have
been marred by irregularities and reports of abuses, undermining
the confidence of the relatives of the victims and the community.

       "The Mexican authorities -- both at state and federal
level -- have an obligation to carry out thorough, impartial and
prompt investigations into  these patterns of violence against
women, to ensure that those responsible are brought to justice,
and to take appropriate measures to prevent similar cases from
happening again," Amnesty International said.

        "These measures must be transparent and effective if
confidence in the judicial system is to be built and the pattern
of murders ended," the organization added.

       "It is not enough for the different agencies and
authorities involved in the investigations to wash their hands of
responsibility and deny their jurisdiction. A pattern of such
terrible murders demands a fully integrated response from all
relevant state and federal institutions to demonstrate that such
crimes cannot and will not be tolerated," Amnesty International
stressed.

       In January of this year, Amnesty International wrote to
the Mexican authorities to request information on the progress of
investigations into the cases,  and to insist on the need for
immediate, thorough and impartial investigations and on the
responsibility on the part of the institutions to take measures
to ensure the safety of the vulnerable. The responses received to
date have been far from satisfactory, and cast doubt on the
avowed commitment of the authorities to end the tragedy of the
last 9 years and restore dignity to the victims and their
relatives.

       A large proportion of the women killed or "disappeared"
in Ciudad Juárez were migrants, lived in marginalised
communities, often with no family support structure, and worked
in the industria maquiladora- factories set up by US and other
foreign companies to exploit cheap labour and favourable tariffs
in the region near the US border.

       "These cases highlight the link between economic
globalization and violence against women. While globalization has
created economic opportunities for women in some areas, increased
poverty and casualization of labour have led thousands of women
to migrate in search of work, often in situations where they are
vulnerable to abuse, exploitation and violence, and are denied
access to effective protection from the criminal justice system,"
Amnesty International said.

       "The message must be clear: violence against women must
be tackled at its roots. All instances of it must be thoroughly
investigated, those responsible brought to justice, and steps
must be taken to address the causes of women's vulnerability to
violence," the organization added.

       In the light of the increasingly important role played by
economic actors, especially multinational companies investing in
Mexico, Amnesty International calls upon companies operating in
Mexico to  show human rights leadership and social responsibility
towards the communities they work and provide appropriate
measures  and adequate protection to ensure the safety of their
workers.



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