Ending Violence Against Women and Gender Inequality: Our Work and Impact
To mark International Women’s Day, we’re taking a look at some of our most recent work and victories in the fight to end violence against women and advance gender equality.
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This year, on International Women’s Day, Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo and members of his government will hold a public act to acknowledge responsibility for the murder of 19-year old Claudina Isabel Velásquez Paiz in 2005 and subsequent impunity.
Claudina Isabel’s body was discovered on August 13, 2005 with signs of sexual violence. The Guatemalan government’s impunity and ineffective investigation into her murder is, unfortunately, representative of a broader failure of the government to stem the tide of femicide and violence against women in the country. Read more about our work on Claudina Isabel’s case and the March 8 ceremony.
Earlier this month, on March 6, the Mexican government signed a compliance agreement, issued a public apology, and recognized their responsibility for the inaction, impunity, and negligence in the case of Silvia Elena Rivera Morales et al. v. Mexico, another femicide case in Latin America.
The case concerns seven women and girls, all under the age of 20 and one as young as 24 days old, who went missing between 1995 and 2003. Six of them were later found murdered, but to this day, no one has been held responsible for their deaths. In each case, the State’s response has been critically deficient, with the investigations riddled with inaction and mistakes. While the seven femicides represented in the Silvia Elena case occurred over 20 years ago, the issue of violence against women in Mexico has only grown—along with the subsequent impunity, in spite of international pressure and the Inter-American Court for Human Rights’s demands for reform. Read more about the case and our work to bring the Mexican State to justice.
Last November, as a part of the 16 days of activism following the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women on November 25, RFK Human Rights convened a webinar to discuss violence against women journalists.
The webinar served as a cross-regional platform to celebrate the work of women journalists from across Africa and Latin America and beyond, as well as highlight the violence they face, examine how this harm impacts them, and explore pathways to create a conducive environment for these women to enjoy their rights and complete their work. Moderated by Sofia Jaramillo (RFKHR), the webinar featured panelists Dr. Julie Posetti (International Center for Journalists), Michelle Mendoza (CNN Español), Hala Al-Karib (SIHA Network), Raissa Carrillo (Media Defence), and Sarah Wesonga (Article 19). Watch the panel and read the full event recap.
Tanesha Golding, a junior at Spelman College and fellow with the John Lewis Young Leaders program, is working to provide free menstruation products to women and young girls who are detained in Georgia.
“State agencies and individual wardens have continued to control this topic on their own,” Golding writes. “Even though regulations have been implemented, such as the First Step Act of 2018, to ensure that women who are incarcerated have access to feminine products, the issue has not been fully resolved.” Learn more about Tanesha and her capstone project, “Period Incarcerated.”
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