In Mexico, violence against women is undeniably widespread and pervasive, normalized by a culture of discrimination and perpetuated by enduring impunity. It’s estimated that at least 66 percent of Mexican women have suffered some type of gender-based violence in their lives.
In particular, femicides, or the killing of women due to their gender, has become increasingly commonplace throughout Mexico. Between 1985 and 2014, there were more than 47,178 femicides in Mexico. And from 2015 to 2017 alone, the number of registered femicides have increased by 72 percent.
The following report from Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights and our partners at El Centro Para El Desarrollo Integral de la Mujer A.C. (CEDIMAC) highlights how the rising trend of femicides in Mexico is a direct, persistent, and pervasive violation of its international human rights obligations. We urge the United Nations’ Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women to pressure Mexico to adopt the Latin American Protocol for the investigation of violent femicides and to implement other legislative reforms to ensure women are both protected from violence and have access to justice for such crimes.