Emergency Measures Haven't Slowed Rising Violence Against Women in Mexico State Alan Hernandez - VICE News
go to original July 29, 2016

A disturbing trend in the state of Mexico prompted so-called 'gender alerts' last year. Over the past few years, hundreds of women have disappeared and been murdered. It's raised questions about how police and the Mexican government are dealing with the crisis. (CCTV America)

Years of pressure from activists and victims over rampant gender-related violence in Mexico State eventually led the government to declare an official "gender alert" in July 2015.

One year on, things look even worse.

The alert promised emergency measures such as the creation of a special prosecutor's office for gender crimes, new protocols for the police, the intensification of efforts to find missing women, and the creation of shelters where women forced to flee their homes could live.

"This is an historic and unprecedented opportunity to improve the situation of women in Mexico State," the country's interior ministry had said in its statement announcing the alert on July 31, 2015.

Last year, however, the state recorded 59 femicides — murders of women who were targeted at least partly because of their gender. This continued the steady increase in the annual number of victims seen in recent years, aside from a small drop in 2013.

There were 39 more femicides registered during the first five months of 2016 — already two thirds of last year's total. A third of this year's murders took place in the city of Ecatepec, a sprawling and dense municipality of 1.6 million people located just north of the capital.

The authorities have suggested that the rise could actually be because of more diligent investigation.

"Due to the alert all violent deaths of women must now be investigated with a gender perspective," Dilcya García, the special prosecutor for gender crimes, recently told Mexican newspaper El Universal.

Read the rest at VICE News

Related: Mexico Government Agency for Preventing Violence Against Women Unable to Demonstrate Effectiveness (Mexico Voices)

Related: Murdered in Mexico State: The Silent Epidemic of Women Killings in Mexico (VICE News)

Related: Fight for Equality Risks Exacerbating Violence Against Women (Reuters)

Related: Before We Can End Violence Against Women We Must First Ask a Fundamental Question: What Is Going on with Men? (The World Bank)

Related: Pregnant Women Are the Latest Victims of Mexico's Femicide Crisis (VICE News)

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