THE INTER-AMERICAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS (IACtHR) SANCTIONED THE STATE OF MEXICO FOR THE TORTURE AND MURDER OF THREE FEMALES ( TWO OF THEM MINORS). THEIR BODIES WERE FOUND IN A COTTON FIELD OUTSIDE OF THE CITY OF JUAREZ. THEIR MURDERS WERE PART OF A SYSTEMATIC PATTERN OF GENDER BASED VIOLENCE, WHICH HAS EXISTED IN THE AREA FOR THE LAST 16 YEARS.

Case: González and others ("Campo Algodonero") v. Mexico

Date: 16 November 2009

Judges: Ms. Cecilia Medina Quiroga (President), Mr. Diego García-Sayán, Mr. Manuel E. Ventura Robles, Ms. Margarette May Macaulay, Ms. Rhadys Abreu Blondet and Ms. Rosa María Álvarez González (ad hoc Judge)

On the 21 September 2001, after going to school and leaving the restaurant where she worked as a waitress, Laura Berenice Ramos Monarrez, a 17 year old girl, never returned home. On the 10 October of the same year, Claudia Ivette Gonzalez, 20 years old, was seen for the last time coming out of LEAR 173, a factory in Juarez. She was refused entry into the factory after arriving to work two minutes late. On the 29th of October, Esmeralda Herrera Monreal, a 15 year old girl, disappeared on her journey home after working as a housekeeper in a house in Juarez city. When the families of the victims reported them missing, the local authorities did not look for them and assumed that the woman and girls were with their boyfriends.

On the 6 and 7 of November 2001, eight bodies were found with signs of extreme sexual violence in Campo Algodonero in Juarez. Three of the bodies were identified as the missing women above.

The cases of women from Campo Algodonero represent a type of both physical and mental violence against women. Hundreds of women have been killed in Juarez since the beginning of the 90s, when NAFTA came into effect, leading to the growth of American textile companies in the region. These factories mainly hired women. The gender-based violence was evidenced in the conditions of captivity the women were subjected to and was perpetrated with the objective of degrading the women through torture, mutilation, sexual aggression, and other acts of violence which can only be inflicted on the body of a woman. The total lack of justice constituted in and of itself gender discrimination on the part of the Mexican authorities.

The Court concluded that the State of Mexico was internationally responsible because it had not acted in accordance with its due diligence obligations to adequately prevent the deaths and the aggression suffered by the victims and it had also failed to act in a reasonable manner to end the deprivation of liberty given the circumstances of the case. The Court found that the non-compliance of the State with its obligations was particularly serious given that the State was aware of the context, in which women were in situations of special vulnerability, and furthermore, they were aware of special obligations of States in cases of violence against women laid down in the Convention of Belem do Para. The Court found that the State had directly violated the Convention of Belem Do Para, which is dedicated to the prevention, sanction and eradication of violence against women. It also recognised that the murders were committed on the grounds of the gender of the the victims and used the term 'femicide', which specifically recognises the deliberate targeting and murder of women based on their sex.

Press articles:

New America Media, 15 December 2009, International Court Holds Mexico Accountable for Femicides

El Paso Times, 12 December 2009, Court Blasts Mexico for Juarez Women's Murders
Women's Link Worldwide's Press Release, 11 December 2009, In an unprecedented case
the Inter-American Court of Human Rights Sanctions Mexico for failing to adequately guarantee the life and personal integrity of women in Ciudad Juarez