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1981- 2002


This Alternative Report was elaborated by CLADEM-Mexico’s Coordination team, with the purpose of showing the situation of discrimination against women in our country. An analysis was performed on the regulations issued by the public institutions, legislation, public policies and reality, within which we focused on some cases in particular, given the seriousness of affectation of Women’s Human Rights in Mexico. In view of this, we report on the degree of compliance of the Mexican State’s obligation, upon adopting on December 18, 1979, signing and ratifying on March 23, 1981, the "Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women", instrument that was enforced in our country on September 3, 1981, after its publication in the Official Newspaper on May 12 of the same year. In this space, we focus on some of the measures necessary for the elimination of discrimination in all its forms and manifestations, suggested in the way of recommendations.

Thus, the present report contains the following: Introduction, I) the main points of concern regarding the subject, on account of its importance for women of the Mexican society, focusing in the respective chapters specifically on the issues of: II) Women, Violence and Justice Procurement, (annex of the case of a Girl-mother as a result of rape and the Governmental denial of the legal interruption of pregnancy); III) Women and Employment, we specifically focus on the work conditions in the "maquiladora" (home-based labor) industry; IV) Recommendations and V) annexes with attachments on : laws, initiatives, rulings of national tribunals, newspaper articles and statistical data.

The present report was prepared by CLADEM-Mexico’s Coordination Team. The following entities joined in this effort: Casa de la Mujer, Grupo Factor X, PAMSIDA, A.C. and Nellys Palomo, member of the Kinal A’nzetik.

On March 23, 1981, Mexico ratified CEDAW and afterwards its Optional Facultative Protocol. Such attitude confirms the traditional position of the Mexican State of ratifying international and regional treaties in matters of human rights, which places it in an avant-garde position. Nevertheless, this has to date not been translated into a political will that materializes actions against gender discrimination, even though Mexico is promoting public policies and legislative changes, aimed at eliminating all the discriminatory stereotypes against women. But such policies and legislative changes are undertaken with limited economic resources. Specifically, the legislative changes’ contents reveal, in their form and degree of compliance, a lack of political will for eliminating discrimination against women. In addition, the tribunals continue in the hands of men, and, in the few cases in which they are headed by a woman, they usually perform their functions under a conservative vision, thus perpetuating discrimination.

In our juridical order, the international treaties have a hierarchy comparable to the supreme law. In those which content is related to human rights, there are jurists that consider that their dispositions acquire a constitutional hierarchy because the rights protected by them are encompassed in the Dogmatic part of the National Constitution (Articles 1 through 30 of the General Constitution of the Mexican United States). Likewise, such rights are of immediate application based on Article 133 of the Magna Charta. For this reason, it becomes indispensable that the State complies with the commitment assumed when it signed and ratified CEDAW; this does not end with this merely formal aspect, which actually is only the starting point. It is necessary that it takes measures, trains, allocates resources and establishes integral public policies that materialize said acknowledgement until now only declared.

The present report focuses in general on some of the main points of concern and points out the advances achieved as well as the existing non-compliances. Furthermore, it especially develops four aspects -Gender Violence, Justice Procurement, Health and Employment- given the relevance these topics have for Mexican women and girls. Its reading permits stating that the State has taken some measures within certain areas, in a partial, and therefore fragmented, manner, in general at the initiative of persons –mostly women- positioned in power places.

To comprehend the situation faced when trying to promote changes in these issues in the country, it is important to bear in mind the effect, at the level of the authorities and of the citizen’s beliefs, of the early consolidation of the civil rights and equality consecrated in the Constitution through the Reforms of December 31, 1974 in the Magna Charta, in general and especially for women, a sector that until then was not included in this principle.

Said formal advance generated the myth that currently, in Mexico, women and men are equal and that there is no discrimination against women. In this aspect, something similar occurs to that which occurs with the traditional contents of human rights: it is considered that the existing norms are enough to equally protect women and men and that no further action is necessary, more so, in our case, for being the first country in America to have in its Constitution the Individual Guarantees. All this gives an idea that the International Treaties are something alien to our country and hence their application is not considered in most cases, and they lack the forms of application in others, constituting an obstacle to be overcome now.

The situation described is articulated with cultural patterns that value highly education as a fundamental element for social ascent, explaining in part that, as of the decade of the 40s, women present: more years of study on average than previous years, something that maintained a steady climb until the 80s; since then, women’s access to education has decreased. In spite of this, for 1970, 72.3% of women had not finished their primary education, coinciding with the onset of the feminization of poverty worldwide, as a result of the economic crises.

However, the early cultural development achieved was not followed by a questioning of the stereotyped concepts of the masculine and the feminine, transmitted through the communications media, the formal and informal education, and in general, they circulate in all the social institutions, blocking the real advancement and empowerment of Mexican women.

Due to the above, the report finishes recommending the actions that the State must perform as priority.

In the first of two annexes, the affirmations performed are documented and we include data from the National Institute of Statistics of our country, which shows us that, in spite of the fact that more than 20 years have elapsed since CEDAW was ratified, it has not been sufficient to allow the Mexican Government to present positive figures on issues such as women’s reproductive health, even though this is a 41 year-old issue, thus evidencing the lack of actions to provide scientific solutions to women’s problems.

REGARDING PUBLIC POLICIES AND ACTIONS IN FAVOR OF THE VICTIMS OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN IN MEXICO

In Mexico the conditions of violence and discrimination against women are similar to those of other societies; particularly, let us say that in the Pre-Colonial Era there existed a theocratic political organization in which its main source of law was the custom. Work was done manually and women’s main role was that of perpetuating the species; this gave them great value and the principal deities were related to fertility. The protection of maternity and life granted women a very special value.

Together with the reproductive function, women of those times were engaged in agriculture. They were the ones that by and large procured food for their families and furthermore were directly responsible for the education of the children, hence Christopher Columbus’ statement to his Kings in the sense that "Women seem to me to work harder than men", a situation that persists to date with the economic crises and the feminization of poverty phenomenon. In spite of the unequal situation, divorce already existed under certain circumstances and by petition of any of the parties. In the case of women, it could happen if her partner could not maintain her, gave a bad example to their children or for physical maltreatment. In the same way, women could possess assets, celebrate contracts and go to the courts to request justice. Aside from women’s access to rights such as education, initiated in 1900 and not materialized for a high percentage of women until the 40s and 50s, as well as the right to citizenship, to which us Mexican women had access in 1953, women have not been able to access equal rights.

It is interesting to know that 49% of the indigenous population were women in the times of the Colonial Era and to date they are 51%. In spite of this, we applaud laws as the one issued in the Laws of the Indies, which date back to 1500-1600 A.D., in which Law XVIII of the Burgos’ Laws was formulated, which prohibited pregnant women from performing heavy duties and during the three years of breastfeeding, they could not be sent to the mines or be mistreated. This norm is presently hard to apply in worker-owner relationships such as the ones in the "MAQUILADORA" INDUSTRY (home-based work), negotiated in the Free Trade Treaties with other nations, labor relationships that upset labor rights and others that attempt against the Human Rights Universal Declaration, dated December 10, 1948, signed and ratified by the Mexican State.

From the Colonial Era we get delinquent forms against women, such as being the object of sexual harassment, as something very common. In fact, the "pernada" right was implanted, which consisted in the Spanish’s right to rape the indigenous women of his property. This comes back to life in the labor relationships within the "maquiladora" industry, particularly since the investors are of oriental countries and cultures, but the victims are not safe, even with bosses of other nationalities, including Mexicans, who under a "macho" education accompanied by impunity, commit these delinquent acts, before the silence of most of the victims, hence the importance of creating penal types that make justice for the victims and applying those that already exist in the country’s 32 states. Last but least, it is necessary to mention the low rate of denounces in these cases, a situations that brings to light the analysis of the various causes for such deed.

In 1915, in Yucatan, General Salvador Alvarado, acknowledging the female workers’ fight, enacted in Chapter V of the Labor Law, two articles, (79 and 80), which determined women’s rest 30 days before and 30 days after giving birth, with full salary and reserving the job that they occupied, as well as the establishment of hygienic sites in which, every two hours, the mothers could breastfeed their babies for 15 minutes. Without doubt, this was the background of the labor rights that us women currently enjoy in all entities. To date, these rights remain identical, except for the case of clauses gained by some Syndicate that adds more rights. However, the above turns out to be hard to apply in certain circumstances, including the government spaces, in which the pregnant woman is questioned, limited, discriminated on or harassed. Needless to say, for this reason women’s access to some posts is impeded and as a result, women in reproductive age face work conditions that force her not to exercise their reproductive rights in a large number of cases.

In 1914 the Divorce Law is enacted by Carranza, with the dissolution of the marital bond and in April 1917, the Family Relationships’ Law. Around this time the Mexican women claim their citizenship right, which is repeatedly denied, in spite of their social and political contribution. It is not until October 17, 1953 that President Alfonso Ruiz Cortinez, as a result of the voting women’s movement, who conducted political meetings for the voting rights of 10 to 20 thousand women, grants this citizen’s right without restrictions, applicable in all the states of the country, finding it hard to apply due to the large number of women for whom it is difficult, costly and, in some cases, impossible to obtain a divorce sentence in terms favorable to their rights and to those of their sons and daughters, remaining, in case of separation, alone before the family obligations, in view of the absence of the husband’s duty and the solidary obligation of the State to look after the family.

Within the national panorama, let us remember that 1975 was a year of hope for women nationwide, due to the fact that the Women’s World Conference was held in our country, thus initiating the International Decade of Women. Up until then, we acknowledged a gradual advance in the development of the movement for gender equality. There were talks of changing society and educating it with a new ethics, promoting women’s juridical, social and human equality. People assured that the idea of the self-sacrificing woman was coming to an end, that it would be achieved that women would be the owners of their bodies, their destinies, their sexual and reproductive life, in one word, owners of themselves. However, twenty years later the statistics reveal something rather depressing: that not only was women’s participation in the public arena not equaled, but also their salaries had decreased in relation to those of men and remunerated employment up to 1995 also decreased. Inequality permeates all spaces and discrimination is recovering its mask of normality and naturalness.

Another grave symptom of women’s situation is that the fights to de-penalize abortion, which were strong and constant in 1975, are nowadays issues that are not to be touched upon or if touched, it is done in a rather timid way because the religious intolerance and prejudices have gained grounds, both in the public environment as well as in the private one and legislation that was won through fights and acknowledgements of the Mexican State, are losing applicability as in those cases in which each one of the 31 states and the Federal District contemplate NON-PUNISHABLE CAUSES TO INTERRUPT PREGNANCY and in which, vis-à-vis the ascent to power of sectors, persons or parties with values against women, abusing power they deny their rights to women victims of an offense, imposing upon them their way of thinking and trespassing all rights. (SEE ANNEX 2: MINOR RAPED DENIED THE RIGHT TO ABORTION AND FORCED TO HAVE HER BABY)

It is an alarming fact that, on the issue of Justice Procurement in the Federal District, from 1980 to 1996 the intentional crimes grew, in men, from 100 to 278, and in the case of women, from 100 to 337, with theft and homicide among the main offenses.

In the previous examples, which are a sample worked on by Doctor Rafael Ruiz Harrell, he claims that in matters of Justice Procurement, "macho" and antifeminist feelings have resulted in a lesser-value treatment towards women, which is causing that the figure of sentenced men, when the victim is a woman, is decreasing, as well as the fact that when the accused is a woman, she is diligently sentenced, registering an increase of the application of penalties towards women as of the 80s. In this same item we must mention that the Agencies of the Public Ministry treat without enthusiasm the offenses committed against women, stated Dr. Ruiz Harrell.

In contrast to what is established in the NATIONAL WOMEN’S PROGRAM 95-2000, in which commitment is made to undertake immediate strategies that help in eliminating the conspicuous inequality and injustice between men and women by means of the committed participation of the Federation, the States and Municipalities and the insertion of said program as a fundamental task in the national development process, the latest administrations of the Government of the Baja California State, locate and declare that: "Women have always had an important role in the family, as mothers, daughters and wives. She helps the family unit and integrity, she is a forger of values and a living example which transcends the family boundaries". It is not that this is false; however, the authority must acknowledge women’s value in other of the many activities she performs. As if this were not enough, the State authority conditions women to demonstrate that, under equal conditions, women are as capable as men, after which we can pretend to achieve democratization and modernization. On the other hand, CONEPO (Population State Council) recommends that our productive force must be taken advantage of. I ask myself if this has not always been done and, in matters of education, it affirms that this is the way to reduce the differences between class and sex and must entail equal opportunities in employment (how many professional women have been rejected on account of their sex, in spite of producing the appropriate diplomas and the highest grades, and INEGI tells us how only between 2% and 6% of women have access to first and second management level positions, by virtue of the masculine profiles that are conditioned and promoted both in the public as well as in the private initiatives?). This situation is perfectly illustrated by any timely advertisement in the local and national newspapers, where in a totally discriminatory manner we find that the job offers for the management positions are aimed exclusively at men.

It is encouraging, and we must acknowledge Baja California as a prosperous state, with one of the lowest unemployment rates, where 50% are women, with an illiteracy index of 5%, occupying the third place nationwide, where additionally, they have managed to reduce the birth rate: in women without an education, to 4.7 children, and in women with higher education, to 1.0 children on average. However, these are flattering figures that the Mexican southern and southeastern states do not possess.

But, even though the authority acknowledges as women’s and girls’ rights the following:

• Women and girls have the right to receive free and integral justice services that encompass medical, physical and mental treatment.

• Women have the right to be respected at work, of not being subject to sexual harassment and to denounce those that cause them prejudice.

And in relation to the subject, we acknowledge important ACHIEVEMENTS, such as:

• Increasing the sentence for the offense of rape in 1984, something that is being adopted by other states of the country, as well as for other offenses of the same nature.

• Creating the Specialized Agencies for the attention of the Sexual Offenses and indecent exposure attempts (1983), which is being promoted in each Municipality of the country; nevertheless, there is a large number that lacks these instances.

• State’s obligation of granting juridical assistance to the victims, the right to receive damage redress and urgent medical attention (1993), for which reason instances were created in some parts of the country, something that occurs in an integral manner only in the Federal District. In Chihuahua these are being adopted due to the crimes known as FEMICIDES, and in a limited manner a handful of other states have it, lacking the majority of women this integral attention in Mexico.

• Decree dated December 30, 1997, by means of which the figure of FAMILY VIOLENCE is legislated integrally, both in civil as well as in penal matters, applicable in the Federal District and within the framework of the Common Jurisdiction for the entire country, finding that the penal types do not protect against all the situations of the commitment of an offense, are not subject to justice for all victims and there are states, such as Baja California, in which Article 242-bis exists, that typifies intrafamily violence and, after more than four years not a single sentence has been issued against an aggressor, which denotes serious problems that have to be taken care of by the authorities.

• Typification of the Sexual Harassment offense since the end of the 90s and there still are some states in which this delinquent figure has yet to be created.

• Sensitization in health institutions, DIF of several jurisdictions.

• Training in Academic and University Coordination.

• Through the actions of some Human Rights Public Organisms that commit themselves and acknowledge their situation from the framework of Human Rights in dealing with labor rights, such as the case of the Human Rights and Citizen’s Protection Public Prosecutor’s Office of Baja California, which as of its Women’s State Program focused on the discrimination against women problem in the education institutions and by means of the performances, in November 1998, they achieved the elimination, via friendly agreement with the authority responsible for the elimination of the gravity certificates that conditioned the rights of women that worked there, making this Resolution extensive to the Syndicate of Education workers nationwide, action that must be an example in all of Mexico’s government dependencies.

• It is worthwhile mentioning especially the national efforts, such as the one of creating government instances to protect the women’s sector and which should have among its main objectives the application of the TRANSVERSALITY IN ALL THE GOVERNMENT ACTIONS, if we refer to the so-called WOMEN’s NATIONAL INSTITUTE(S) as well as its counterparts in the 32 Mexican states, of which to date only 50% of them have these instances, which, by the way, encounter strong opposition to their creation in conservative sectors and governments that have from limited to a wide array of faculties and actions in favor of the enforcement and respect for women’s rights, but that lack, in most cases, the vision of creation, without their costing too much and without distracting important economic resources for their exercise and, as a result of it, they become inefficient in their actions and purposes. As we have already mentioned, the traditional role of the women that preside these instances, of "stretching the resources to reach the unreachable" is repeated over and over again and this becomes their primary responsibility. In this respect, the following comparative analysis suffices:

  - Whilst the Justice Public Prosecutor’s Office of the State of Baja California is allocated an annual budget of 507 million pesos, the Farming Foster Fund 83 million pesos, the Tourism Secretariat 77 million pesos, for the Women’s Institute of Baja California, the media has indicated that they will be allocated 1 (one) million pesos. This allows us to perform a comparative analysis of the criteria and political will of the State vis-à-vis women’s rights.

  - In the cases of services to the victims, it continues being the action of non-government organisms that provide help and support in most of the 32 states of the Republic and the instances of justice procurement and statistics lack the figures, thus leaving those of the health instances, which report some of the cases in which violence is involved. (SEE INEGI STATISTICAL ANNEX)
  

STUDY ON THE "MAQUILA" PHENOMENON, VIOLATIONS, ANALYSIS POINTS AND PROPOSALS

ANNEX TO MEXICO’S SHADOW REPORT 1981 – 2002

Author: Dr. ANA BERGARECHE

Presentation: Compiled by Lic. Minerva Najera, Coordination, CLADEM-Mexico, North Zone.

During the 60s, the industrialization model for exports, based on multinational corporations’ foreign investments, has dominated the global market, offering their strong currencies and technology to the underdeveloped countries. On the other hand, said process has generated a New Work Division (NWD), which main factors refer to the supply of cheap labor by the underdeveloped countries and the supply of capital from the industrialized countries. Finally, globalization has generated new international alliances and treaties that seal the combination of interest between the multinational corporations, the government institutions and the elites of the underdeveloped countries. In the case of Baja California, the creation of Free Trade Zones and their consequent privileges for the foreign investors has affected irrevocably the region’s socioeconomic structure.

The current corporate expansion process provides women in underdeveloped countries an opportunity to integrate themselves in a harmonious and productive manner to the development and globalization processes. Said integration is assumed as a feasible road towards gender equality, as well as the economic and social well being of the women, families and communities involved (Boserup, 1970; Inkeles & Smith, 1974; Moore, 1965; -Rosen, 1982). The other side of the coin is offered to us by the synthesis between the perspective of exclusion and of exploitation, arguing that women have always been "integrated" to the development process, albeit in a marginal and subordinated way. Both positions agree on the criticism above, although they differ in one point: the exclusion perspective assumes women can eventually achieve gender equality in a capitalist system, if and when the access to professional posts within the labor environment is broadened.

In this sense, the exploitation position denies this possibility within the capitalist system, given that equality is considered as a consequence of the social class inequality. In this system, the family nucleus, as central axis of the capitalist society, is located as the main place of oppression, since it guarantees the assigned role of unpaid housewife or complementary worker to women. Therefore, the incorporation of women to work within this system ensures the perpetuation of the hierarchical patterns that favor the exploitation of feminine labor. In this way, power structures such as capitalism and patriarchy interrelate in the process of capitalist accumulation that incorporates the class, gender, and ethnic discrimination (Kucera, 1995; Rohrlich & Leavitt, 1975; Fernandez-Kelly, 1985; Enlow, 1983; Mies, 1989; Cravey, 1998).

The present diagnosis intends to incorporate itself to the previous debate and examine the impact of gender in the work area and within the current globalization process. For this, a revision of the most relevant statistics since the 80s in Baja California, as well as of the investigations done on this topic in the region, is performed. The larger part of the empirical work is concentrated in Tijuana, due its dynamism and strategic location in the process of economic globalization. However, the analysis shall refer to, within the existing limits, to other cities in the State and other States for comparison purposes.

Most of the available statistical sources comprise the segregation of data on work as a function of sex. It has been observed that there is a high proportion of women that work in large companies, and particularly in the cities where the "maquila" (home-based work) industry is booming (INEGI, National survey of Urban Employment, 1989 – 1996, fourth quarter). Several investigations in Baja California have focused on the impact of this trend for gender equality, mostly by transcending the dichotomy of the debate integration versus exploitation. A classic example refers to the Tiano (1995) investigation in the city of Mexicali. The authoress, among other areas, measures the influence of gender inequality, the primacy of the domestic chores, the solidarity networks and the autonomy vis-à-vis masculine figures in women’s autonomy. The study is based on a random sample of workingwomen in various branches of the "maquila" industry. A significant area in the evaluation of the work options in the "maquila" companies refers to the soft division between the defense of women’s reproductive rights and the work conditions imposed by the capital’s needs. There is a broad denounce field regarding the lack of legislative support that defends the reproductive rights of workingwomen (Hertel, 2001). Hertel offers an analytical revision of the existing itinerary in the search for a solution to this problem. At the beginning of 1995, the "Human Rights Watch" (HRW) group began exploring the work conditions in the maquila companies established in Mexico. The group sent an investigation team to Mexico to analyze and document discrimination against pregnant women or those vulnerable to become pregnant in the maquila sector (Human Rights Watch, 1996). In August 1996, the group aired a report exposing the generalized practice of subjecting women applying for jobs to pregnancy tests, and discriminating against those that got pregnant during their labor contract (Hertel, 2001).

In May 1997, Human Rights Watch established connections with two non-government organizations (NGO’s) to denounce before the "North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation" (NAALC), exposing that the Mexican government had permitted gender discrimination in the free trade areas. After a long investigation process, the US National Administrative Office (NAO) published a public report recommending ministry consultations between the Mexican and U.S. Work Secretariats. These were held in October 1998. In December of the same year, a second report was published, condemning the inability of the Mexican Government to "condemn, investigate or punish discrimination" and that of the American government of "demanding proof of how the Mexican government regulations sanction labor discrimination" (1998c, 2, 47). (Hertel, 2001).

The corporations’ responses included the denial that the practices performed could be classified as discriminatory, as well as certain efforts (considered by Human Rights Watch as inadequate) to solve the problem. The ministry consultation took place in March 1999 in Yucatan with a conference on Public Education. On said occasion, the Mexican government announced a change in policies on the application of pregnancy tests, stating that work discrimination in reference to gender and pregnancy is illegal under Mexican law (US-NAO, Nov. 1999:3). The final report at the ministry level has not yet been presented.

· Competition among companies for low salaries.

· Economic crises worldwide.

· Limitations in the education system regarding the openness on the gender issue (federal level).

· Restrictions in public budgets.

· Advances of conservative groups and contradictions in the political discourse.

· Lack of sensitization on gender to personnel of official organisms.

· Lack of mental health programs.

· Violations of labor legislation worldwide.

 

· Labor segregation cause: the ideology of capitalist accumulation, gender constructions that define the work with the most social status as "male" and the ones with the least social status as "female", the social construction of the feminine identity as centered on aspects primarily related to sexuality and reproduction, the lack of a government apparatus that supports the gender-related changes performed in the work area, the use of sexual violence as a social control and subordination tool in the public and private environments.

· Use of violence as a social control toll cause: the social construction of violence as a justifiable mechanism in the affirmation of the masculine identity, the cultural notion that feminine sexuality must be controlled to avoid the family and social "dysfunctionality", the "good" and "bad" duality in the construction of femaleness.

· Traditional values that permeate the meaning of the female and male "must be" causes: the notions transmitted through the Jewish/Christian religion about the ideals of the feminine and masculine identities, the representations of the feminine and masculine identities in the contents of the communications media, and the silencing of the feminine voice in the artistic expression.

· Hierarchy of the family structure causes: the ideology of the capitalist accumulation, which makes use of the unpaid domestic work for its benefit, the traditional notions on gender that justify work’s sexual division as a natural consequence of women’s reproductive capacity, the capitalist notion that attributes the authority roles in accordance with the procurement and administration of the monetary resources.

· Lack of a State apparatus adequate to the changes in the labor structure causes: the patriarchal ideologies that permeate the State apparatus as social regulator, the relatively small percentage of women with power positions in the legal and governmental environments.

The identification of the above-mentioned categories leads to the elaboration of a series of recommendations derived from a global and systematized view of the analysis performed in this document. The recommendations are divided into two fundamental areas: the first one is related to the implicit elements in the labor dynamics and that require an investigation in the near term. The second one includes aspects that surround the problem and are more difficult to identify, requiring a medium to long-term intervention.

Regarding the first one, the recommendations are centered in the following points:

- The reformulation of laws in the work environment that regulate work discrimination based on sex, including the following aspects:

· Salary discrimination

- Contract policies

· Promotion policies at work

· Sexual harassment

· Supply of the necessary elements for a favorable integration between the labor and the family environments: adequate work schedules, children’s day care centers, the offer of maternity and paternity benefits.

· Supply of services that bear in mind the social position of women and offer specific support in the areas of vulnerability: adequate transport that offers the necessary protection, as well as the existence of legal and psychological support.

· The promotion of cultural and leisure activities in the company that contribute to the reformulation of gender relations towards a larger equality.

· The promotion and spreading of educational material on the gender problem to the women and men in the company (employees and officers), that take into consideration the social class and ethnic conditions of the persons involved.

· The linking with NGOs and government institutions related to the gender problem.

· Incorporating the gender problem to the syndicates’ internal structure, elaborating an evaluation system that revises compliance with the agreements at the national and international levels.

Regarding the second area in question, the medium and long-term recommendations center on the following points:

· The restructuring of the political, education, judicial, cultural and medical institutions, syndicates and communications media in order to incorporate the gender problem with the following results:

· The introduction of the gender viewpoint into the political proposals and the internal structure of the parties.

· Incorporating subjects and programs on gender to the curricula of schools and universities. Increasing the support to the investigation on gender. Promoting the collaboration among international organisms and educational centers.

· The reformulation of the laws with the purpose of eradicating gender inequality in all the areas.

· Broadening the access of women to the cultural production, as well as promoting artistic and cultural creativity among them.

· Strengthening medical education with the perspective of gender and incorporating it in the elaboration of diagnoses and treatments.

· Re-elaborating the contents of the communications media to offer representations on gender that favor equality in all the areas.

· Creating points of sensitization to gender and support to men and women at the community level, taking into consideration social class and ethnic aspects in the elaboration of its contents.

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GIRL-MOTHER ANNEX: RAPE VICTIM IS PERSUADED NOT TO INTERRUPT HER PREGNANCY BY AUTHORITY IN CHARGE OF PROTECTING HER RIGHTS

In October 1999, Lic. Rebeca Maltos Garza and architect Silvia Resendiz Flores presented a complaint before the Human Rights Public Organism of the State of Baja California for deeds that allegedly violated the human rights of a 14 years old minor, Paulina del Carmen Ramirez Jacinto, occurred in the Mexicali Municipality, deeds that at that time were attributed to the staff of the Mexicali, B.C. General Hospital’s Public Service.

The alluded human rights transgressions were: Violation of the minors’ rights to the Protection of their Integrity, Torture, Insufficient Protection to Persons, Undue Exercise of the Public Function, Violation of the Right to Privacy and Information Illegally Revealed. Such was the tenor of the file and after its analysis and integration, on March 6, 2000 the resolution was served upon LIC. ALEJANDRO GONZALEZ ALCOCER, whereby he, in his role as State Governor, was recommended to adopt the following measures:

FIRST.- By virtue of being juridical and ethically legitimate, instruct to whom it may correspond so that as soon as possible, the victims Paulina del Carmen Ramirez Jacinto and her mother Maria Elena Jacinto Rauz, be indemnified for the concept of moral injury, for having been inhibited in their right to interrupt pregnancy of the minor, as a result of the actions and omissions incurred in by the public officers mentioned in the present Recommendation document.

SECOND.- By virtue of it being juridical and ethically legitimate, instruct to whom it may correspond so that as soon as possible, by means of a Trust, the right to the attention of the health, education, clothing, housing, and in general all the care of the minor Paulina del Carmen Ramirez Jacinto and of the boy or girl about to be born, be guaranteed, until the time when they are in condition to take care of themselves, in this way allowing them to exercise their right to a dignified life. The girl is not responsible of an unwanted pregnancy, product of a rape and of having been inhibited from exercising her right to interrupt her pregnancy, as well as a result of the actions and omissions incurred in by the officers mentioned in the present Recommendation.

THIRD.- By virtue of it being juridical and ethically legitimate, instruct to whom it may correspond so that as soon as possible, the administrative and/or legal proceedings be initiated, in order to determine the administrative and/or penal responsibility incurred in by Lic. Juan Manuel Salazar Pimentel, the State’s Justice Public Prosecutor; Dr. Carlos Astorga Othón, Director of ISESALUD; Dr. Ismael Avila Iñiguez, Director of the Mexicali General Hospital and the medical staff of the same hospital that intervened in this matter; Lic. Juan Manuel Garcia Montaño, Zone Deputy Prosecutor; Lic. Norma Alicia Velasquez Carmona, Agent of the Public Ministry, Specialized in Sexual Offenses and Intrafamily Violence, due to the actions and omissions in which they incurred in, in the case of the minor Paulina del Carmen Ramirez Jacinto.

FOURTH.- By virtue of being juridical and ethically legitimate, instruct to whom it may correspond so that as soon as possible payment is made to Paulina Ramirez and her family for the damages and prejudices inflicted upon her, to cover all the money they spent on the various studies and analysis, ordered by the medical staff of Mexicali’s General Hospital, on account of the legal medical interruption of pregnancy, which had been ordered by the Public Ministry.

FIFTH.- Give instructions to whomever corresponds so that as soon as possible, training courses be organized in the State Health System, on Medical Ethics, Sanitary Rights and Human Rights, aimed especially at the health workers in the system’s various hospitals, as well as the Public Ministry’s staff.

As a follow-up of the Recommendation 2/2000 document issued by the local organism for the protection of Human Rights, C.P. Jorge Ramos, in his role as Government Secretary General of the Baja California State, replied to the Recommendation by indicating NOT ACCEPTING ANY OF THE POINTS OF RECOMMENDATION 2/2000.

In exercise of the Contestation Recourse foreseen by the legislation in matters of Human Rights in Mexico, in March 2000, the CC Silvia Resendiz Flores and Rebeca Maltos Garza interposed said recourse as a result of the NEGATION TO ACCEPT THE RECOMMENDATION OF THE GOVERNMENT OF BAJA CALIFORNIA.

After the location and integration of the recourse numbered as in the Human Rights National Commission, on September 18, 2000, the Recommendation Nº 18/2000 was issued and sent to Lic. Alejandro Gonzalez Alcocer, in his role as Governor of the State of Baja California, by the Human Rights National Organism, which consisted of the following points:

First: Give the order to whomever corresponds, with the purpose that, based on the information contained in the present document, TOTAL COMPLIANCE IS GIVEN TO THE SPECIFIC POINTS OF RECOMMENDATION 2/2000 issued on March 3, 2000 by the Human Rights and Citizen’s Protection Public Prosecutor of the State of Baja California, due to it being legally correct.

SECOND: Send your instructions to whomever corresponds, to the effect that, based on the indicated reasoning, the appropriate measures be issued to duly integrate the previous query 488/99/104, and as soon as possible, determine the correct action according to the law. Likewise, allow the internal control organ to intervene and determine the administrative responsibility in which the social representatives in charge of the mentioned investigation might have incurred.

In relation to the above-mentioned Resolution of the Human Rights National Organism, Lic. Alejandro Gonzalez Alcocer, in his role as Governor of the State of Baja California, replied to the Recommendation points CNDH/18/2000 to Dr. Jose Luis Soberanes Fernandez, President of the Human Rights National Commission in the following terms:

FIRST: It is worthwhile noting that Recommendation CNDH/18/2000 does not coincide with the one issued by the Local Public Prosecutor regarding the constitution of a Trust, due to the reasons exposed by this Honorable Commission, for which reason IT IS ACCEPTED in the terms proposed in the mentioned Recommendation, upon considering that the latter does adhere to the law, and bearing in mind the reasoning expressed in the preceding chapter.

SECOND: Recommendation CNDH-18/2000 is accepted in the terms proposed.

Regarding the case at hand, we present the following points of analysis:

a) It is surprising that ever since the first declarations of the victim as well as those of her sister Janet Mendoza Jacinto, there are elements in the investigation that indicate the existence of two rapists, and this theory is strengthened by the results of the DNA laboratory tests, which pointed out that the arrested and processed individual, JULIO CESAR CEDEÑO ALVAREZ, is not the father of the boy that was born as a result of the offensive act, and, the above notwithstanding, we do not know of any searches being carried out to bring in the other aggressor. On the other hand, with the public handling performed by the Government of the State of Baja California, it hindered the image of the minor and her family.

Continuing with the analysis of the preceding point, it is deplorable and preoccupying that Lic. Cenayda Tafolla Gonzalez, Head of the First Penal Jury of the Mexicali, B.C. Municipality, has not resolved in her sentence the legal measures and diligences aimed at finding the minor’s second aggressor.

In reference to the Recommendation points of the two Human Rights organisms and in view of the ACCEPTANCE on the part of the State Government, we know that the acceptance was only verbal and not put in practice due to the fact that:

First: Paulina del Carmen Ramirez Jacinto and her mother, Maria Elena Jacinto Rauz, have never received any amount whatsoever from the State Government as payment for damages or redress.

We know that only as economic social support, the victims were granted a once-only amount, by means of a cheque on the part of Baja California State’s Social Development Area, for $324,000.00 (Three hundred and twenty four thousand 00/100 Pesos National Currency), but that the responsibility of the staff of the various public entities has never been acknowledged.

Moreover, we know that the request related to health, education, housing, food, clothing and others, in an unofficial way and without it being mandatory, through phone calls made by the staff of the State’s Social Development Office, medical attention is being granted to Paulina del Carmen Ramirez Jacinto and her minor son in the Health Institution ISSSTECALI, located in the Mexicali Municipality, Baja California. All this with constant problems in the medical services, given the absence of a government instruction in writing that would establish its bonding nature.

Bearing in mind the SECOND RECOMMENDATION of the Human Rights National Commission, contained in Document CNDH-18/2000, which alludes to the due and diligent integration of the Previous Query 488/99/104, as well as its resolution, we know that, without having been previously summoned, the staff of the public service involved in the occurrences, resolved the NON-EXERCISE OF THE PENAL ACTION and its corresponding filing, to which in time and form, the plaintiffs promoted the REVISION of such determination, achieving in their favor the determination to CONSIDER THE RECOURSE AS JUSTIFIED and recently several parties and witnesses have been summoned by the Social Representation, among which and for the first time Lic. Juan Manuel Salazar Pimentel, Justice Public Prosecutor of the State of Baja California at the time the deeds occurred, was summoned. As in the previous case, we are equally worried that the former public officer has not appeared in court to give his declaration and his absence has been judicially documented under the reasoning that the Agents of the Ministry Police in charge of locating him could not locate the domicile address and therefore were not able to serve Lic. Salazar Pimentel, upon whom several imputations of responsibility for actions and omissions in the exercise of his post fall.

In view of the above, we must RECOMMEND to the Mexican Government the following:

First Recommendation: That it materialize in every single one of its points, the resolution of the Mexican Human Rights Organisms, repairing the damage done to the victim and her family, the persecution of the second aggressor and that the Public Servants who flagrantly trespassed the rights of the minor and her family be sanctioned.

Second Recommendation: Invite the Mexican Government to implement immediately, from the federal space, the Penal-Medic procedure to safeguard the rights of the victims, guaranteeing a prompt, warm and quality service by the public institutions.

Third Recommendation: In relation to the general topic of Violence, Justice Procurement and Attention to Victims, we suggest the Mexican Government be invited to abandon the practice of providing marginal resources, or not providing them at all, to the instances in charge of this sector, allocating to them budgets equivalent to the level of each Dependence.

Fourth Recommendation: In relation to the previous point, and in a complementary manner we suggest that the Mexican Government train, sensitize and inform each and every one working in the Public Services, about the international commitments undertaken in general, and specifically, those regarding the defense of women’s rights, such as CEDAW. To achieve this, it is utterly important that these actions be initiated and issued from the top levels of government.

Fifth Recommendation: Invite the Mexican Government to place special emphasis on the access to women’s and girls’ health, primarily those that suffer from HIV/AIDS, given that upon the de-centralization of the health services, this sector has not been protected for its attention and most of the Civil Organisms basically look after the male population, in spite of the fact that the statistics show that this disease is increasing among women and girls in Mexico.

Sixth Recommendation: Double the efforts and resources in the services related to Health, Procurement of Justice, Education, and Services to the Indigenous Communities to combat the historical backwardness and redress indigenous women, especially those that live in the Southern part of Mexico, living examples of the moral, psychological, health, housing and educational damage, etc., which hardened further their living conditions after the deeds of 1994.

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