Ask Amnesty

From Angela, Orange, CA:

Is there any progress regarding the disappearances and murders of hundreds of women in Juarez, Mexico? The decade-long crisis still isn't much in the news. Has Amnesty International spent much time or effort investigating or publicizing this issue?

AIUSA's Women Human Rights Program responds:

Dear Angela,

Thanks you for your question regarding violence against women in Ciudad Juarez, in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. Since 1993, over 200 women have been killed or "disappeared" in Ciudad Juárez.

Amnesty International is extremely dissatisfied with the response it has received to date from Mexican authorities, and has expressed doubt about the commitment of authorities to end the horrifying pattern of violence that has become commonplace there. The murders and "disappareances" continue and as recently as late February 2003, the bodies of three more missing young women were discovered among mounds of rubbish, half-naked with their hands bound. The women had reportedly been raped and killed following the pattern of the other murders.

There is a growing attention being paid to the horrific violence in Juarez. AIUSA's Women's Human Rights Program currently has two online actions on this topic, as well as a petition that is available offline; and we are looking forward to the International Secretariat's release of a report on situation. In addition, the program recently held a benefit screening of the documentary film "Senorita Extraviada: Missing Young Woman."