WUNRN

http://www.wunrn.com

 

CALL FOR SUPPORT STATEMENT SIGN-ON

MEXICO INDIGENOUS WOMEN RAPED BY SOLDIERS & SEEK JUSTICE

 

Two background documents follow Statement.

 

Please Send Sign-On's to Analia Penchaszadeh.

 apenchas@gmail.com

_______________________________________________________________

 

Solidarity with Inés Fernández Ortega and Valentina Rosendo Cantú, Indigenous Women of the nation Me’phaa, Guerrero, who defied the Mexican Government for covering up human rights violations perpetrated by the Militia

We, the individuals and organizations signing this document, express our solidarity with Valentina Rosendo Cantú and Inés Fernández Ortega. These indigenous women from the Me’phaa nation, in the state of Guerrero, Mexico, were raped and tortured by members of the militia in 2002.

Furthermore we categorically condemn the attacks and threats that these women, their families and the indigenous organizations that have supported them, have faced and continue to face to this day, and we express our outrage at the lack of effective response from the Mexican Government.

For over eight years, Valentina and Inés have struggled tirelessly to attain justice. Recently, an important victory was achieved in this struggle: two sentences of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, condemning the Mexican Government for its responsibility in the human rights violation against both Me’phaa woman, and, for having denied them access to justice at a later date. Nevertheless, to this date the Mexican Government has not demonstrated the will to enforce these sentences and implement the necessary measures to stop the threats and harassment.

What Inés and Valentina have been through is evidence of the prevalence of issues such as the lack of access to justice for women who are victims of violence; the abuse resulting from the growing lack of civil controls over the Armed Forces; and the persecution that advocates of indigenous peoples’ rights face in Mexico.

Nevertheless, through Inés and Valentina’s perseverance and courage, the outrageous situation of indigenous women human rights in Mexico, characterized by violence and discrimination, has become evident. Their struggle has shown the extent of the military power over human rights violations as serious as rape, which are frequently ignored and covered-up.

In view of all this:

We are committed to the promotion of women’s rights and peace. We will remain vigilant until this becomes a reality.

______________________________________________________________________

Dear colleagues,

Above is an important statement of solidarity with Inés and Valentina, two indigenous women from Guerrero, Mexico, who were raped and tortured by members of the military in 2002. Their struggle to find justice to their case has been long and they were able to take the case to the Inter American Commission and from there to the Inter American Court of Human Rights. In the latter they were able to get sentences condemning the Mexican Government for their responsibility in the human rights violations in the cases of Valentina and Inés.

In the process of seeking justice on their case, Inés and Valentina became women's rights defenders and they have continued to face threats and many are concerned for their security. Leaders of the Organization of the Me’phaa Indigenous Nation (OPIM –Spanish acronym) which has been key in their defense and support, are also being threatened. Tlalchinollan, a well known human rights organization working on the mountains of Guerrero, has been another organization closely involved on this case.

Our support statement that was drafted in consultation with Tlalchinollan and several other partners in Mexico, trying to bring international attention to the current situation faced by Valentina and Inés.

We are collecting signatures for this statement of both individuals and organizations. Some of the signatures gathered so far include the signatures of six Nobel Peace laureates (that are members of the Nobel Women's Initiative).

The idea is to bring as much press attention to the case right now, as a way to contribute to put pressure on the Mexican Government and hopefully improve the security of Ines and Valentina. The assessment made by Tlalchinollan is that this is a good action to take right now because the government is setting up a special mechanism to follow-up on the implementation of the Inter American Court of HR sentences on the second week of February. So, they will be organizing a press conference in Mexico City to present this statement with all the signatures next week.

Please help Ines and Valentina in Mexico, continue to seek justice, safety and security. Please Sign-On to the Statement above and send to:

Analia Penchaszadeh - apenchas@gmail.com

I hope you will sign-on the statement, and disseminate it among well-known individuals or organizations that you think would be interested in signing.  Thank You.

Lydia Alpizar - AWID

_____________________________________________________________________

 

WUNRN

http://www.wunrn.com

 

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=53069

 

Mexico - Indigenous Women Raped by Soldiers - Justice at Inter-American Court of Human Rights

 

By Emilio Godoy

Soldiers harassing indigenous women in Guerrero.  / Credit:Courtesy of Tlachinollan Human Rights Centre
Soldiers harassing indigenous women in Guerrero.

Credit:Courtesy of Tlachinollan Human Rights Centre


MEXICO CITY, Oct 5, 2010 (IPS) - "I dream of returning to my community and for everything to be normal again, although that won't be easy," Valentina Rosendo, one of two indigenous women who found justice at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, told IPS.

"I want the government to admit that it made a mistake with two indigenous women," she added, after the Court condemned
Mexico for failing to protect her rights and those of Inés Fernández, who were raped by soldiers eight years ago.

In February 2002, 17-year-old Rosendo was washing clothes in a river near her home in the
village of Barranca Bejuco, in the southern state of Guerrero, when she was accosted by a group of soldiers, two of whom raped her.

A month later, three soldiers raped Inés Fernández in her house in the nearby
village of Barranca Tecuani.

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
Mexico."

When she failed to obtain justice in
Mexico, Rosendo brought her case in November 2003 before the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights (IACHR), with the support of CEJIL and the Tlachinollan Human Rights Centre, from Guerrero. Fernández did the same the following June.

The IACHR referred the cases to the Court in May and August 2009.

The
San José, Costa Rica-based Court and the Washington-based IACHR are the Organisation of American States (OAS) human rights bodies.

"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
Mexico's military justice code, with dates back to 1933, so that members of the armed forces are tried in civilian courts for crimes committed in the course of duty.

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
Mexico where she works at a grocery store and has returned to school to complete her secondary education.

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
Inter-American Court rulings.

"We are going to keep a close watch on how
Mexico lives up to the sentence, which is binding," Nuño said.

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
Inter-American Court also handed down two rulings against the Mexican state in November 2009.

The first involved the 2001 murders of three young women in Ciudad Juárez on the
U.S. border, whose bodies were found on a piece of waste ground known as the Campo Algodonero (Cotton Field). The second found the Mexican state guilty in the forced disappearance of schoolteacher Rosendo Radilla, a community activist who was abducted in 1974 by soldiers in the state of Guerrero.

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.