Protection for women and children victims of violence grows 18% in the first four months of 2025: RNR

MEXICO CITY (apro).- In the first four months of 2025, the National Shelter Network (RNR) provided support and protection to 5,720 women, girls, and boys, a figure that represents an 18% increase compared to the same period in 2024, when 4,868 people were served.

According to its report for the January-April period of this year, the number of services provided through Outpatient Care Centers increased by 869%, which "demonstrates both the urgency of the services and the growing demand for safe, accessible, and specialized spaces" for women in this vulnerable situation.

This increase, she added, must be understood in the context of a "national emergency": more than 10 women are murdered every day in Mexico, and seven out of 10 have experienced some form of violence at some point in their lives.

Of the total number of women treated, 89.6% of their attackers were their partners or ex-partners, and 33.2% used firearms.

Led by Wendy Figueroa, the Network highlighted that, according to the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System (SESNSP), 162 victims of femicide were recorded in the first four months of this year, representing a 35.5% relative share of female homicide victims. She emphasized: "These data demonstrate the urgent need for shelters with a gender perspective and sufficient resources."

For this reason, she launched the campaign "Living without Violence and Access to Shelter is My Right," to amplify women's voices and demonstrate that access to shelter should not be limited solely to the risk of femicide.

Violence against women and children

According to the RNR report, the women it served during the aforementioned period have faced multiple types of violence, many of them simultaneously:

• -Psychological: 33%
• -Physics: 23%
• -Economic: 17%
• -Sexual: 10%
• -Equity: 10%
• -Others: Vicarious, Abandonment, Digital: 7%

Meanwhile, the most affected age groups were the following:

• -From 15 to 25 years: 41%
• -From 26 to 35 years: 39%
• -From 36 to 50 years: 20%

Regarding the care provided to children in the Network's Shelters and External Care Centers, the report highlighted that during the period in question, 1,019 minors were admitted, while the most frequent types of violence they suffered were:

• -Psychological: 28.8%
• -Economic: 28.3%
• -Equity: 19.9%
• -Physics: 17.8%
• -Sexual: 5.3%

The report highlighted that 12.8% of the children of women living in shelters were not admitted with them due to vicarious violence, "which highlights how gender-based violence is also exercised as punishment and control through children."

Worse still, in 83.7% of cases, the aggressor of the daughters and sons is the same as their mothers, which reaffirms "the need for intersectional and family-based responses that recognize these forms of violence as part of the same patriarchal structure."

And the aggressors?

The RNR report revealed the profile of the attackers of the women it treated in the first four months of the year:

• -89.6% of the aggressors are their partners or ex-partners
• -33.2% use firearms
• -47.3% have a criminal record
• -19.5% have links to military or political sectors

These data, the Network stated, "confirm that violence is structural and is often perpetuated by power and impunity."

New campaign launched

In light of the aforementioned context of violence, the National Shelter Network launched the campaign "Living without Violence and Access to Shelter is My Right." Its objective is to "amplify the voices of women shelter beneficiaries" within the context of its "unwavering" commitment to human rights and the protection of women and children in Mexico.

Its importance lies in the fact that, when we talk about women, girls, and boys, we are talking about lives, about human beings whose right to protection should not be compromised. "It is essential that this right be protected with a guaranteed and progressive budget," she said.

She emphasized that access to shelters should not be limited solely to the risk of femicide, as this "reductionist view ignores the complexity of gender-based violence and denies protection to those facing psychological, economic, sexual, or property violence, which also puts their lives and dignity at risk."

The campaign, she insisted, "seeks to make visible the reality of all women who suffer violence and highlight the importance of providing them with a safe space and comprehensive, unconditional support."

The RNR shared the first capsule of this campaign, which will be accompanied by postcards and other materials.

Finally, the Network recognized the "open and constructive dialogue" with the Secretariat for Women, headed by Citlali Hernández, as well as its "willingness to advance the comprehensive protection of the human rights of women, their children, and those working on the front lines of care."

In passing, he reiterated the importance of the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (SHCP) contributing to strengthening the inter-institutional framework that guarantees the sustainability of shelters through a sufficient, progressive budget with flexible allocation mechanisms.