Mexico resorts to evasion and triumphalism as violence against women persists: NGO

MEXICO CITY (apro) .- Civil society organizations asserted that the Mexican State “falls short” in its tenth evaluation before the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), as it was unable to present “verifiable evidence of real progress in matters of justice, economic and political participation, and the elimination of discrimination against women.”

On the contrary, they lamented that the delegation led by the Secretary of Women (SeMujeres), Citlalli Hernández Mora, "has resorted to evasions, partial data, and triumphalist narratives, while violence against women persists and worsens in the country."

After President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo's government's appearance before the United Nations (UN) Committee concluded yesterday, the National Citizen Observatory on Femicide (OCNF) and the National Network of Civil Human Rights Organizations "All Rights for All" (Red TDT) reviewed the main criticisms and questions surrounding CEDAW and how the Mexican government avoided responding to them.

In a joint statement, they criticized the fact that, despite the State's "claim that femicides have decreased, official figures tell a different story: in the last six years, there has been no real decrease." They also noted that, on average, 10 women are murdered every day in the country.

Of these crimes, they continued, only 25% are investigated as femicides, and in states like Guerrero and Guanajuato, this figure is less than 10%. They concluded that "denying the seriousness of femicide violence does not eradicate it: it renders it invisible and revictimizes those who have lost their lives and their families."

Setbacks

According to the ONCF and the TDT Network, the CEDAW also noted the "lack of clear and up-to-date statistical data, which makes it impossible to assess whether public policies have truly benefited Mexican women."

Likewise, the Committee continued, it lamented the "weakening of key institutions" such as the National Council to Prevent Discrimination (Conapred), the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH), and the disappearance of the National Institute for Transparency, Access to Information, and Protection of Personal Data (INAI), in addition to the "militarization that particularly harms indigenous, migrant, and Afro-descendant women."

The complainants added that one of the "most alarming setbacks" is the dismantling of the National Commission to Prevent and Eradicate Violence against Women (Conavim), which "jeopardizes" the continuity of the Gender Violence Alert against Women (AVGM) mechanism and "violates" the principle of progressiveness in human rights.

Evasions and official narratives

According to the organizations filing the complaint, at the hearing in Geneva, the Mexican delegation led by Citlalli Hernández "avoided answering key questions from the Committee, including compliance with Articles 8 to 16 of the Convention, which cover topics such as health, labor, education, justice, and legal conditions in the family."

Instead, they said the former secretary general of Morena "limited herself to highlighting the official narrative of 'Women's Time' without providing concrete data to prove the alleged progress."

They also highlighted that the State boasted about the Protection Mechanism for Women Human Rights Defenders and Journalists, "but its figures show its ineffectiveness: only 1,472 of 2,128 applications were accepted, and the measures granted remain reactive and limited."

More: Between 2018 and 2024, four journalists and 39 women defenders, mainly Indigenous and community caregivers, were murdered.

Regarding abortion and sexual and reproductive health, they said the state ignored real obstacles: "a lack of trained personnel, unregulated conscientious objection, and persistent criminalization in at least eight states."

In one quarter of 2025, 218 abortion investigations were opened, even in states where abortion is already decriminalized.

In the Committee, the government presented the National Program against Human Trafficking as a "backbone" to address this problem. However, the organizations reported that the 2022-2024 Program "had no budget," and therefore demanded that the new program have "a specific budget for its better implementation."

“He left us wanting”

The ONCF and the TDT Network considered that the Mexican State's appearance ended "without the Committee being able to complete its evaluation" and that, therefore, Mexico must submit in writing the responses "that it evaded, as an example of the accountability deficit our country faces regarding women's rights."

Nor, they continued, did it fail to "prove real or substantive progress. There is no 'time for women' as long as the right to life, justice, and equality are not guaranteed. There is no progress if we continue to count our dead."

To conclude their statement, the organizations listed their demands on Claudia Sheinbaum's government:

• That it responds in a “timely and verifiable” manner to the CEDAW questions.
• Reestablishment of Conavim or the creation of a body with equal or greater technical and budgetary capacity.
• Standardization of state criminal codes, as well as the approval of a Single Criminal Code with a gender perspective.
• Transformation of the protection mechanism for women defenders and journalists with a solid, specialized structure and an intersectional approach.
• Guarantee real and effective access to legal and safe abortion, with accessible services, trained personnel, and without criminalization.
• Recognition and respect for the rights of searching mothers, Indigenous and community defenders, and journalists, and that no one else has to choose between their struggle and their lives.
• Providing sufficient resources to existing shelters serving women and girls who are victims of trafficking and creating new specialized shelters to serve all victims in need.
• Include in the new Human Trafficking Program 2025-2030 the content suggested by civil society for the prevention and response to this problem.