WUNRN
"According to the 2011 report by the Mexican National Institute for Women, in Mexico 5 out of 10 women aged 15 years or older have been victims of domestic violence and 13.5 per cent of women have been victims of physical violence in their homes. However, only 2 out of 10 women victims of domestic violence have sought help."
MEXICO - DOMESTIC VIOLENCE & QUEST FOR JUSTICE
Shortly after 4 a.m. on 16 September
2009, Grettel Rodriguez Almeida, a young lawyer from the State of
“He came to me and stabbed me on the face,” Grettel recalls.
Immobilized, she could only use one hand to defend herself. “I could not move.
I used my free hand to fight back. These are from defensive wounds,” she
explains, as she shows her scars.
Grettel was also stabbed in the neck and the abdomen. She
was rushed to the hospital by her parents who heard her screams. The doctors
sutured her wounds without anesthesia to save her life.
Her boyfriend was arrested soon after and confessed
attacking Grettel.
But that was just the beginning of Grettel’s quest for
justice, for herself and for all the women victims of domestic violence.
Although Ortega Hernández was formally charged and indicted
for attempted murder, the crime was later reclassified to aggravated assault.
After spending 1 year, 8 months and 25 days in prison, he was set free.
Grettel started living in constant fear as her former
boyfriend started harassing and threatening her again. He would send her
threatening messages via Twitter and on her phone. “I was scared for my life,”
Grettel says.
But Grettel did not give up. She was committed to take the
case to
“I was shocked to hear a young woman tell me how she was
stabbed seven times by her fiancé – only to face the indignity of seeing him
freed in court, by a woman judge, who thought she was being too harsh on him,”
said UN Human Rights Chief Navi Pillay referring to Grettel’s story during a
visit to Mexico in 2011.
In support of Grettel’s case, the UN Human Rights Office in
In it, the Office drew the Court’s attention to the
Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women to
which Mexico is a party. The Office stressed that “the failure to duly
investigate and punish violence in the private sphere sends a message of social
acceptance” and that “the administration of justice must avoid reinforcing
prejudice and stereotypes that justify, tolerate or minimize the intrinsic
gravity of acts of violence against women.”
After several setbacks and months of struggle, on 31 October
2012 Mexico’s Supreme Judicial Court ordered the reinstatement of attempted
murder charges against Ortega Hernández.
Grettel also received support from the Human Rights
Commission of Mexico City; human rights non-governmental organizations, in
particular Centre Prodh, and State officials.
Grettel welcomed the decision of the Court. “What I wanted
was to have the case re-examined, because this was never done before for a
victim. I wanted to set a precedent. I knew I was swimming against the tides.
It is meaningful that the trial will begin all over again,” she says.
Grettel studied law because she wanted to “save the world” or work for the
United Nations. She believes that “everything happens for a reason”. “I am
alive and should not be; my dream is to “save the world”. I know it is not
possible, but I am doing my little part, and I hope it is useful to someone
else.”
The day the case was reclassified, Grettel started her own
research and came across the word femicide. “I did not know what it meant but I
became curious and looked for more information: I read about a lot of cases and
I saw myself in all of them. The difference was that I was alive and many other
victims were not. This is what gave me the strength to stand up and make my
voice heard.”
According to the 2011 report by the Mexican National
Institute for Women, in Mexico 5 out of 10 women aged 15 years or older have
been victims of domestic violence and 13.5 per cent of women have been victims
of physical violence in their homes. However, only 2 out of 10 women victims of
domestic violence have sought help.