Violence against women, a pandemic as maiming and fatal as any deadly microbe, is not unique to Mexico. It’s global.
The unsolved murders in Ciudad Juarez and the state of Chihuahua, Mexico, of mostly young and indigenous working-class women, are very real. More than 400 women have been kidnapped and murdered over the past 14 years, many of them raped, mutilated and tortured first.
Who is responsible for all these?
What does this slaughter signify... Is it gender terrorism?
Or, is this a horror film tease?
Women in Juarez of all backgrounds breathe terror, night and day. Although rape, physical assault and murder are the most extreme forms of gender violence faced by Mexican women, they also frequently have to deal with sexual harassment in the workplace.
Grim statistics shows:
1. Since 1993, almost 400 women and girls have been murdered and more than 70 remain missing.
2. Gender violence has paid the lives of more than 6,000 girls and women between 1999 and 2005.
3. Seven out of every 10 Mexican women have suffered some form of abusive treatment at some time in their lives.
4. Nearly, 19,150 complaints of physical assault and 9,984 of rape against women and minors have been reported in the first half of the year alone.
Combating violence
For many years, the authorities did little to investigate or prosecute those responsible and on occasion, they used torture to extract confessions from scapegoats. Recently, there has been progress in the cases related to domestic violence, but the anonymous, sexually motivated crimes remain stagnated.
Thus, the need of the hour is expeditious justice, reparation for harm and the severe punishment of perpetrators and those who have passively colluded with them and the Mexican government must give an account of the work of the Special Prosecutor for the investigation of the femicides and of the Special Commission for Ciudad Juarez and Chihuahua.
Any approach designed to combat violence must be twofold, addressing the root causes of the problem and treating its manifestations. Society at large including judges and police officers, must be educated to change the social attitudes and beliefs that encourage male violence.
It is also important in order to prevent violence that non-violent means be used to resolve conflict between all members of society. Breaking the cycle of abuse will require concerted collaboration and action between governmental and non-governmental actors, including educators, health-care authorities, legislators, the judiciary and the mass media.
