On Dec. 10, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights delivered a sharp rebuke to the Mexican government, accusing it of inaction in preventing, investigating and prosecuting the murders of young women in the border city of Juárez [2]. The Court specifically found that authorities failed to adequately investigate the murders of Claudia Ivette Gonzalez, 17; Irma Monreal Herrera, 15; and Laura Berenice Ramos, 20—who were among the eight victims whose bodies were discovered in 2001 in a cotton field across the street from the city's Association of Maquiladoras.
The Court ruled that the Mexican government must acknowledge publicly its responsibility, publish the sentence in official government records, and build a monument in memory of the victims—in addition to investigating the murders and bringing those responsible for the slayings to justice. It is the first time the court has ruled against Mexico on a human rights complaint, and it is the first ruling by the court that recognizes gender-based murders.
Nearly 750 women and girls have been murdered in Juárez since 1993, and 36 were reported missing this year. The court called the Juárez murders "alarming." (El Paso Times [3], Dec. 12; NYT [4], Dec. 10)
See our last posts on Mexico [5] and the femicide [6].
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