Murder in Ciudad Juarez: A Parable of Women's Struggle for Human Rights

• NCJ Number: 214008
• Journal: Violence Against Women Volume: 12 Issue: 5 Dated: May 2006 Pages: 417-440
• Author(s): Mark Ensalaco
• Date Published: May 2006
• Length: 24 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This article examines the decade-long gender-based violence in Mexico against women, the negligence of the Mexican authorities in the prevention of violent crimes against women, and the emergence of prevention efforts through women’s and human rights’ organizations, as well as regional and international human rights organizations to end the violence.

Abstract

The integration of a gender perspective into human rights discussion and practice represents an advance toward rectifying the problem of gender inequality in Mexico, specifically in Ciudad Juarez. The women’s organizations in Ciudad Juarez have mobilized to confront the gender-based crimes occurring for the last decade. By adopting the traditional strategies of human rights advocacy and by incorporating the gender perspective, these women’s organizations have completed a double transformation. They have transformed themselves into human rights organizations and transformed human rights discussion and practice. The gender perspective demands changes in the decisionmaking procedures of international human rights bodies. Violence against women is rooted in gender discrimination and thereby constitutes a violation of women’s fundamental human right to equality, as well as physical integrity. The murder of hundreds of women in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico during the last decade has compelled women to mobilize and fight to secure their rights as equals and prevent continued gender-based violence. This article examines the decade-long wave of gender-based violent crimes that began in 1993, the disregard of Mexican State and Federal authorities to investigate and prevent these crimes, and the emergence of a broad-based campaign involving women’s organizations, human rights organizations, and regional and international human rights bodies with the common goal of ending the violence and promoting respect for women’s rights as human rights. References