Stop Femicide!

Irene Khan, Secretary General of Amnesty International (2001-2009), writes about the women of Juarez in her book entitled The Unheard Truth: Poverty and Human Rights. In an excerpt from that book, Khan underscores economic issues associated with femicide in Juarez on page 3.

"Juarez is a sprawling, ramshackle Mexican city on the US border, just metres away from..El Paso, TX. It is host to the maquiladoras--assemby plants set up by international companies..." which are then exported to North America and Globally. Khan goes on to state that young women migrate to Juarez in search of jobs in the factories. "In the last 10 years, hundres of these poor, young women--many of them only girls--have been abducted, raped, and brutally murdered in Cuidad Juarez and areas of the Chihuahua state. They were killed while walking home from work or night school, their bodies dumped in empty lots or scrubland around the shanty towns where they live. Until 2005, there were no convictions, nor even serious police investigations or prosecutions." 

Khan goes on to give a case example of a young girl femicided in Juarez. Unfortunately, she fails to explore the problems of femicide in Guatemala and the nation receives little mention in this important book about human rights.

In Melissa Wright's book Disposable Women and Other Myths of Global Capitalism she explores the multiple realities of violence against women, including femicide. Dr. Wright has also focused her research on the femicide of women in Cuidad Juarez, Mexico. Recently, when asked why Cuidad Juarez gets more attention than Guatemala, Dr. Wright explained that the women of Cuidad Juarez have organized and they have built solidarity on this issue effectively and ultimately this has brought considerable attention to their problem in the city. In turn, the Juarez community and Mexican government has begun to respond. However, she pointed out that the problem of femicide is far graver in Guatemala.  

Dr. Roselyn Costantino of Penn State University--Altoona is currently researching femicide in Guatemala for a forth coming book on the subject. Costantino reminds us that the problem in Guatemala is tremendously complex and one must understand the history of Guatemala in order to fully embrace the underlying dynamics. This history not only includes the 36-year civil war (1960-1996), but predates this era of violence to include the conquest of the region and nation. Costantino points out that women's bodies have been used for many purposes across Guatemala's history and today's femicide rate is just one symptom.

In Victoria Sanford's analysis presented in From Genocide to Feminicide: Impunity and Human Rights in Twenty-First Century Guatemala she explores impunity and human rights with a recognition of this crisis in "peace time" Guatemala. She writes of "selective repression" or social cleansing and gang violence. Within this context, she explores "feminicide" which she identifies as a "political term...it encompasses more than femicide because it holds responsible not only the male perpetrators but also the state and judicial structures that normalize mysogyny. Impunity, silence, and indifference each play a role in feminicide" (pg 112). Dr. Sanford's research offers a strong analysis, including genocide, and the costs of this crime to the entire society of Guatemala. Sanford points out that the international community can play a positive role in ending impunity in Guatemala by providing support for women's human rights groups, the Human Rights Ombudsman, and the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala.

Irene Khan

When speaking in Fall of 2009 about poverty and human rights at the University of Richmond, Khan pointed out that the women of Mexico have been very effective at organizing for change, engaging the Mexican authorities in the process of tackling the climate of impunity. This response was related to an audience member's question about her focus on Mexico femicide without mention of Guatemala. Khan went on to say that the situation of the Government of Guatemala was very different and recognized that the women of Guatemala have significant challenges in their political context. While Amnesty International has published a very important report on the situation in Guatemala, it dates back to 2005. An update on this report is an important step forward and it may be one more step in putting pressure on the Government of Guatemala to address impunity more effectively. We encourage Amnesty International to follow-up on this report with an update.

Amnesty International's 2005 Report can be found here .