The Failure of Femicide Policies in Mexico

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Mexico’s first implementation of a policy against femicide—gender-based violence killing women—came in 1994 with the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence against Women, in conjunction with most Latin American countries, However, it wasn’t until 2012 that Mexico included femicide as a crime in its federal penal code, following the failure of its initial policies. In that same year, the country first began tracking femicide occurrences. Despite this, Mexican citizens allege that the reported cases of femicides are lower than the actual gender-based violence occurring across various Mexican states.

In this analysis, I will be utilizing quantitative and qualitative evidence that supports the claim that Mexico’s current femicide classification and framework are not facilitating active change in its gender-based violence issues. The analysis will also incorporate statistical evidence to examine how femicide cases have historically been handled and the social movements they have ignited. This analysis will outline the limitations of femicide policy within Mexico, the extent to which it has been effective, and the ways in which rising femicide rates coincide with the basis of the Mexican federal government’s dictation of how femicide cases are to be handled. Overall, this article argues that Mexico’s fragmented and inconsistently enforced femicide policies have not only failed to protect women but have also perpetuated a culture of impunity. Therefore, comprehensive reforms—focused on national uniformity, stricter enforcement, and accountability measures—are essential to combat the systemic violence that endangers women across the country.

The Recent History and Politics of Femicide in Mexico

Gender-based violence killing women, categorized officially as feminicidios, or femicides, under Mexican law, remains an urgent and complex issue lacking effective remedies in Mexico. Before proceeding, note that this paper adopts the UN Office on Drugs and Crime and UN Women’s definition of femicide as the “gender-related killings of women and girls.” By defining femicide as gender-related killings, this paper aligns itself with the prior scholarly consensus that it is an intentional act that comes from a manifestation of violence toward females. Additionally, it does so with the understanding that in such cases of femicide, there is yet to be a widely used “global or regional statistical approach that can define and produce relevant metrics to measure all gender-motivated killings of women and girls."

Mexico established femicide as a punishable offense after becoming a member of and adopting the guidelines of The Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence against Women in 1994, which obligated member countries to address violence against women. Yet, in Mexico, more than 36,000 women were murdered between 1993 and 2014. In Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, the bodies of young women with signs of rape, beatings, and mutilation have been increasingly found in the desert since 1993. Meanwhile, "authorities have been indifferent, insensitive, and even hostile toward the victims' families, who are often subject to harassment and threats." These increasing rates of murder among young women and girls and the impunity in Ciudad Juarez drew international attention to Mexico's lack of protection for these groups.

In response to pressures from international advocacy groups and local women’s rights activists, the Mexican government adopted a new law in 2007—the General Law of Access for Women to a Free Life of Violence (GLAWFLV)—an attempt to address the rampant violence against Mexican women. The framework sought to coordinate the different levels of government in the Mexican Federation: from the federal entities, to the states and municipalities, to work together in the prevention and punishment of violence against women, aiming as close to eradicating it as possible. The law also includes a ‘Gender Violence Alert,’ a set of emergency government actions to confront and eradicate feminicidal violence in a given territory, whether perpetrated by individuals or communities. The Gender Violence Alert is a mechanism that allows government entities to coordinate with one another to prevent femicide. At the same time, what this “coordination” entails is vaguely described in the legislation. Despite all these increased measures, there were still 16,187 cases of femicide between 2008 and 2014.

The failure of GLAWFLV to reduce femicide rates led to public protests, prompting the government to criminalize femicide in the federal penal code as a supplement to existing laws. The federal government subsequently began counting the deaths of women in such cases and tolling femicides in 2012. Nonetheless the penal code includes some limitations: homicide is considered femicide only when the victim is female and they experience one or more of seven accompanying circumstances: the victims shows signs of sexual violence, degrading injuries, or mutilations have been inflicted before or after the deprivation of life, a history of previous violence by the subject, a romantic or trusting relationship, previous threats, the victim has been held incommunicado or their body has been displayed in a public place.

Mexico’s National Commission to Prevent and Eradicate Violence Against Women states that apart from its criminalization of femicide, the GLAWFLV law itself has constantly been reformed in accordance with the social reality and needs of the country. However, reports have determined that in Mexico, “93 percent of crimes were either not reported or not investigated in 2018, and investigation and prosecution of femicides follow that trend.” Nevertheless, there were 968 reported cases of femicides in 2022, a 127 percent increase from 2015, according to data from the Executive Secretary of the National System for Public Security.

The Failure of Femicide Policies in Mexico

Given the failure of policies identifying femicides in Mexico, in 2023, 2,580 women were murdered, but only 830 were categorized as femicides. Mexico’s current policy framework for the punishment of femicide is applicable at the national level, yet the Mexican states have the sole responsibility of dictating how their femicide cases should be handled. This can lead to variations in implementation, interpretation, and prosecution across Mexico, resulting in many cases being incorrectly prosecuted or not prosecuted at all. There is a similar issue with attempted femicides, where victims receive little to no justice. “Failure to prosecute such attacks as attempted femicide despite overwhelming evidence downplays the scale of the problem of violence against women and fuels a culture of impunity.” 

Additionally, the differing legal guidelines for femicide cases grant judges more autonomy when presiding over cases. That autonomy exists because of the differences in legal definitions of femicide across Mexico's states, which, as Medina notes, leads to "a lack of comparable data and agreed definitions." The rate of femicide prosecution is further impacted by the policies' lack of uniformity in application to criminal codes across Mexican states. Cases of femicide have a history of being labeled as "crimes of passion" without much consideration of the gender-based intentions behind murders. Some state policies also entirely rule out the possibility of it being femicide if the victim and attacker were previously engaged in a romantic relationship, reducing it to a charge similar to manslaughter.

The government's lack of transparency and accountability, coupled with its history of impunity in cases of femicide, further pushes victims into silence.  According to a 2021 Amnesty International report, Mexican femicide investigations tend not to have crime scenes properly investigated or evidence stored securely, resulting in omitted data, such as missing objects, substances, and testimonies. Jesus Peña Palacios, deputy head of the UN Human Rights Office in Mexico, said more needs to be done to address femicide in Mexico, citing the overload of cases, poor funding, and failure by law enforcement officials to properly investigate cases of gender-based violence.

Backlash Against the Failure

Noting the recurring failures to protect them, Mexican women often take to the streets to protest gender-based violence, especially after a wave of prominent femicides throughout the country in 2020. Their largest demonstration occurs annually on International Women’s Day, capturing national headlines and occurring throughout Mexico’s states—and especially in Mexico City, where a gender violence alert was declared in 2015 and continues in the present day. The women gather in chanting ¡Ni una más, ni una más! / ¡Ni una asesinada más!, which translates to“Not one more, not one more! Not one more assassination!” 

The widespread and increasing number of unpunished femicide cases not only intensifies public outcry but also heightens women’s sense of insecurity throughout the country, a country where 77% of women already report feeling unsafe.

Mexican journalist Gloria Piña, who won the 2023 Breach/Valdez Award for Journalism and Human Rights for her documentary The Survivors: Forgotten by Justice, has become an advocate for women breaking their silence and calling for accountability. According to Piña, women have united to protest gender-based violence because they fear for their lives and feel for those who survive attempted femicide yet obtain no justice. For example, Piña mentions the case of  Carolina Ramírez Suárez, who was kidnapped and tortured by her estranged husband; she grew unwell and required medical attention. Despite his actions, the husband received the minimum sentence for attempted homicide, not femicide, and died in prison.

The lack of proper categorization of the crime draws attention away from the gendered violence and machismo culture that are pertinent to the case. Ramírez Suárez received only $750 in reparations from the State. "When you are subjected to violence of this magnitude, it is as if you are first broken in pieces," said Ramírez Suárez. This is the plight that these women experience. Survivors and relatives of victims then often join support groups to recuperate from the emotional, physical, and mental turmoil caused by this gender-based violence in Mexico.

Women have also stated that Mexico does not do enough to ensure the protection of women and their integrity through the legal system. The femicide policy in Mexico has led to states having jurisdiction over whether victims can receive a protection order and if femicide is to be criminalized in their state criminal codes. The lack of coordinated preventative and protective measures, as well as loopholes within the application of Mexico's current femicide policy, remains staggeringly evident.

In response to the public outcry and gaps in the current femicide policy, Mexico should require states to enforce stricter legislation on femicide, as seen in the initiatives taken by the state of Puebla: Local lawmakers in Mexico approved legislation that would “suspend parental rights for men being investigated for femicide.”  This is the first reform of its kind in the country. It also strengthens penalties for individuals convicted of acid attacks. Mexico should also follow the lead of Latin American countries with lower femicide rates, such as Chile. The precedent established by Chile included an expanded definition of femicide, increased punishments for femicide, and sections ensuring the protection of attempted femicide victims and their families.

Like Chile, Mexico should consider legislation that has effectively lowered femicide rates and consistently implements clearer protective measures and justice processes for victims and survivors. The majority of the femicide policies that have produced tangible results are more explicit in the way that law and higher-level officials should handle the cases, establishing a more uniform implementation. Mexico's loose implementation of its femicide policies creates an environment where increasing rates of femicide remain prevalent throughout the country.

Moreover, it should adopt a more uniform approach to combat femicides in the country. If federal authorities continue to permit systematic impunity, they risk complicity in the growing violence against women. Mexico already possesses the required mechanisms to punish and prosecute cases of gender-based violence legally; however, without the initiative to streamline its legal system, femicide will continue to be one of the country's rising and most pressing issues. Mexico's current approach to addressing femicide is inconsistent in its implementation and enforcement, accountability, prevention, and coordination. Its pattern of faulty or inaccurate data collection poses a concerning trend in relation to the increasingly undocumented deaths of women and cases of femicide.

A comprehensive strategy focused on prevention, accountability, and support is essential. Mexico must prioritize a commitment to eliminating the fundamental structural inequities and discrimination that drive gender-based violence. The mishandling of evidence and flawed court proceedings, coupled with societal machismo, has created an environment where many women fear for their lives daily, hesitate to report attempted femicides, and lack confidence in legislative protections.

To eradicate nationwide gender violence, Mexico must implement top-down changes, beginning with comprehensive legal reforms and strict enforcement. For Mexico to make real progress toward eradicating femicide, its legislative framework must establish femicide as a crime in every state and specify how cases should be handled. Only then can the country see meaningful results in both prevention and justice for victims.

Conclusion 

The persistent rise in femicide rates across Mexico reflects deep flaws within the country’s fragmented and inconsistently enforced policy framework. Although Mexico has made strides by codifying femicide as a punishable offense, these measures remain insufficient without cohesive, standardized implementation and accountability at both the federal and state levels. To effectively address this crisis, Mexico must adopt uniform legislation, enforce stricter prosecutorial guidelines, and improve investigative practices to ensure justice for victims and survivors. The societal toll of unchecked gender-based violence not only impacts individual lives but also erodes public trust in the justice system and underscores the urgent need for change. Meaningful progress in combating femicide will only be achieved through unwavering commitment to reform, making the protection of women a national priority.

References

(To be published soon.)