WUNRN
Mexico - Indigenous Women
Raped by Soldiers Find Justice at
By Emilio Godoy
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"I want
the government to admit that it made a mistake with two indigenous women,"
she added, after the Court condemned
In February
2002, 17-year-old Rosendo was washing clothes in a river near her home in the
A month
later, three soldiers raped Inés Fernández in her house in the nearby
In both
cases, the Court found the state guilty of failing to guarantee the two Me'phaa
Indian women's rights to personal integrity, dignity, legal protection and a
fair trial, to a life free of violence, and to not be tortured. Inter-American
Court rulings are binding and cannot be appealed.
"They
are two very similar sentences," Alejandra Nuño, the Centre for Justice
and International Law's (CEJIL) director for Central America and Mexico, told
IPS after the two rulings were reported Monday. "They refer to the
presence of the soldiers, discrimination, and violence against women. And rape
is classified as torture, in a case that has no precedents in
When she
failed to obtain justice in
The IACHR
referred the cases to the Court in May and August 2009.
The
"The
state cannot continue to deny these incidents, when the serious harm caused in
these indigenous communities is abundantly clear," Abel Barrera, executive
director of Tlachinollan, told IPS. "Inés can't live in peace, and
Valentina can't return to her community."
Abuses by
the military and police are a permanent feature of life in rural areas in
Guerrero, and reporting them to the Mexican justice system has had little to no
effect, according to human rights organisations that have documented the cases.
The authorities say the security forces are deployed in Guerrero to fight drug
trafficking and small guerrilla groups.
The Court,
presided over by Peruvian Judge Diego García-Sayán, ruled that the state
violated three inter-American conventions: the 1969 American Convention on
Human Rights, the 1987 Inter-American Convention to Prevent and Punish Torture,
and the 1998 Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment, and
Eradication of Violence Against Women.
In its
sentences, handed down on Aug. 30 and 31, the Court called for a thorough
civilian investigation into the crimes against the two women, and ordered the
Mexican state to make a public apology to them in both Spanish and the Me'phaa
language, publish the sentences in the official government gazette, and open a
centre that would provide multidisciplinary health services for women in the
area where the abuses took place.
It also
calls for reforms of
The Court
ordered the state to pay some 87,000 dollars in damages and compensation to Fernández,
her husband Prisciliano Sierra and their children, and 75,000 dollars to
Rosendo and her daughter Yenis Bernardino.
It must also
pay 48,000 dollars to Tlachinollan and CEJIL to cover legal costs.
"It was
not easy to seek justice. I left my town, and my husband left me. The
government called me a liar," Rosendo, in a beige blouse and blue jeans,
said with tears in her eyes.
Rosendo had
to learn Spanish after she was raped, and she now lives in an unrevealed
location somewhere in
Her
nine-year-old daughter is in third grade. "She is desperate, and asks why
we move all the time and she has to make new friends. She's not growing up with
a normal childhood," said Rosendo, who goes to therapy every Sunday.
Both Rosendo
and Fernández have been harassed and received death threats over the years, and
have been stigmatised by neighbours, as rape victims.
This is not
the first time the Inter-American Court has ordered the Mexican state to reform
the military justice code -- which has become one of the flashpoint issues for
the executive, legislative and judicial branches.
Conservative
President Felipe Calderón announced that he would introduce a bill in Congress
to that effect. But the Supreme Court has failed to pronounce itself on the
steps to be taken in order to comply with the
"We are
going to keep a close watch on how
On Oct. 1,
the government said it would live up to the two sentences, but did not specify
how or when. It has between six and 12 months to fulfil the various provisions.
The
The first
involved the 2001 murders of three young women in Ciudad Juárez on the
In both
cases, human rights groups have complained how long the government is taking to
comply with the sentences.
For that
reason, a number of non-governmental organisations want to establish a
committee to follow up on compliance with the rulings.
This year,
the Court is to issue a decision on the case of environmental activists Rodolfo
Montiel and Teodoro Cabrera, peasant farmers who were arrested and tortured by
Mexican soldiers in Guerrero in 1999 and sentenced in 2000 to six and 10 years
in prison, respectively, on trumped-up charges of illegal weapons possession
and growing marijuana.
Although
they were released in November 2001 by then President Vicente Fox (2000-2006)
after a major international outcry, they were not pardoned, nor did they
receive damages for the abuses and torture they suffered.
The
militarisation of Guerrero "is aimed at keeping indigenous people from
organising," said Barrera, winner of this year's Robert F. Kennedy Human
Rights Award, rewarded by the Washington-based RFK Centre for Justice and Human
Rights.