Mexico to Focus on Crimes Against Women
This entry was posted on 3/3/2008 9:59 AM and is filed under uncategorized.
Friday, February 01, 2008
By E. EDUARDO CASTILLO, Associated Press Writer
MEXICO CITY —
Mexico
has created a new federal position to prosecute violence against women and
human exploitation, as rights groups urge the government to do more to
investigate the killings of women, especially along the U.S. border.
The position, announced on Thursday, will replace a similar post created in
2006 and will add migrant smuggling, child labor and other human exploitation
to its caseload.
The new prosecutor, Guadalupe Morfin _ who previously served in a similar
post aimed at combatting violence against women in Ciudad Juarez _ will report to Attorney
General Eduardo Medina Mora.
The attorney general told Radio Formula that he welcomes the expanded role
for his office.
Human exploitation "is a serious problem that we see daily, and we
don't have the adequate structure to deal with it," Medina Mora said.
Since 1993, an estimated 423 women have been killed in Ciudad Juarez, across
the U.S. border from El Paso, Texas _ at least 89 between 2004 and 2008, the
National Human Rights Commission reported Tuesday.
In about 100 of the Juarez killings, women
were abducted, often sexually abused and strangled before their bodies were
dumped in the desert. Many were last seen in the city's downtown area or taking
buses, and their bodies often did not resurface for months.
Commission President Jose Luis Soberanes called the investigations into the
deaths "terrible."
