Mexico: Rights Of Feminicide Victims At Risk

The situation of gender-based violence is particularly serious in the State of Mexico, one of Mexico's 32 states. According to the Executive Secretariat of the National System of Public Security, at least 120 feminicides would have been committed between 1 January and 31 October 2022 in the State of Mexico, ranking first in the country. The disappearance of women and girls in the state is also worrying. According to figures from the Comisión Nacional de Búsqueda (National Search Commission), the whereabouts of 353 women and girls reported missing in the State of Mexico between 1 January and 31 October 2022 remain unknown. 

Amnesty International has documented that investigations into feminicides preceded by disappearances in the State of Mexico are deficient because evidence is lost, the different lines of investigation are not thoroughly examined and the gender perspective is not properly applied. In addition, families are re-victimised because they have to invest time and money in investigating and pressuring the authorities to investigate, and because they are frequently threatened by the alleged perpetrators and even by the authorities. This hampers the judicial process and increases the likelihood that cases will go unpunished, seriously affecting families' access to truth, justice and reparation.

In this context, the Attorney General of the State of Mexico committed to issue a public apology to the victims and families of four exemplary cases of feminicide and disappearance in the state. These are the cases of: Nadia Muciño Márquez, disappeared and murdered in 2004; Daniela Sánchez Curiel, disappeared in 2015, whose whereabouts are unknown and whose family presumes she was a victim of feminicide; Diana Velázquez Florencio, disappeared and murdered in 2017; and Julia Sosa Conde, disappeared and murdered in 2018.

The public apology would acknowledge: 1) The shortcomings in the investigations of these cases, 2) The lack of effective measures to prevent, investigate, prosecute and punish gender-based violence in the State of Mexico, and 3) The magnitude of the problem of gender-based violence in the State of Mexico. The event has been cancelled three times without any explanation from the authorities.  

There are clear international standards on the obligation of states to investigate and punish violence against women and to provide access to reparation for women who are subjected to gender-based violence. The Inter-American Court, in the case of Gonzalez et al ("Campo algodonero") v. Mexico, stipulated that disappearances and killings of women must be investigated from a gender perspective. Furthermore, the Court considered that the State's obligation to investigate must be diligently fulfilled in order to avoid impunity and the recurrence of such acts. The Convention of Belém do Pará, to which Mexico is a party, stipulates that states have the obligation to establish the necessary judicial and administrative mechanisms to ensure that women subjected to violence have effective access to reparation.