by JULISSA DELGADO
Effectiveness of Violence Against Women Legislation: Ley General De Acceso de las Mujeres a una Vida Libre de Violencia (Law for General Access of Women to a Life Free from Violence)
An interview was conducted by COHA research fellow Julissa Delgado with Norma Ledezma Ortega, General Coordinator of Justicia para Nuestras Hijas (Justice for our Daughters). Justicia para Nuestras Hijas is an NGO based in Chihuahua, Mexico whose purpose is to seek justice for women who have fallen victim to femicide as well as the implementation of the Law for General Access of Women to a Life Free from Violence.
The Lost Women
Since 1993, many young women (between the ages of 12 – 22)1 have been victims of femicide—the murder of women solely based on their gender— in Juárez, Mexico, where many cases have remained unsolved over long periods of time. The rising number of femicide victims, who are characteristically tortured and sexually abused before their untimely death, has caused consternation among women’s groups and concerned members of the international community who collectively seek justice for these innocent victims. Due to increasing national and international pressure, the Mexican government passed the Law for General Access of Women to a Life Free from Violence in 2007, which was intended to prevent sanction and eradicate violence against women.2 Although most of the attention has been focused on Ciudad Juárez (the perceived epicenter for femicides in Mexico), the number of femicide cases has spread across the country and is rising at an alarming rate. Their expansion in geographical range exemplifies the increasing magnitude of crimes against women in Mexican society in spite of the new legislation. The ongoing prevalence of femicide victims illustrates that the existing Mexican law has been largely ineffectual.
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