Emergency measures to tackle violence against women are to be implemented in Jalisco after it was revealed that at least eight towns and cities have reported an increase in femicides over the past four years.
The government of Jalisco has issued a so-called “gender alert,” which represents a clear concession that systematic violence against women is a problem in the state.
The emergency mechanism brings a series of 15 measures into effect. These actions are divided into five separate blocks: urgent, preventative, protective, judicial and security measures.
Urgent actions include an increased police presence in public spaces, such as parks and other “zones of risk” for women. Yet Jalisco Government Secretary Roberto Lopez Lara was keen to emphasize that the alert also aims to implement longer-term prevention strategies.
“This is not only a gender alert,” Lopez Lara announced. “We are also going to prevent the problem by providing dignified employment for women and working on health and education issues.”
Preventative measures include school and training programs, as well as workshops to tackle domestic violence.
The creation of a data bank cataloguing protection orders and the improvement of a violent incidents inventory are among the protective actions included in the package. Judicial measures include strengthening complaint procedures and providing in-depth training for personnel providing victim support. Finally, security actions will involve special training for police officers and the development of a database to record emergency calls.
Human rights groups and families of victims have been demanding a gender alert for several years, and Jalisco Governor Aristoteles Sandoval finally set up the Jalisco Inter-Institutional and Multi-disciplinary Group (GIM) to survey the problem in August last year.
According to the group’s research, 150 women were killed in Jalisco in 2015. In the last four years, 579 femicides have occurred in the state.
“The report has concluded that violence is systematic in all areas of public life, schools, work, streets and parks,” said Erika Loyo, the president of Jalisco’s Institute for Women.
The alert focuses on eight towns and cities with a particularly high index of gender violence. Guadalajara, Puerto Vallarta, Ameca, El Salto, Tlajomulco, San Pedro, Tlaquepaque, Tonala and Zapopan have been prioritized by state authorities.
The actions will be brought into effect under the guidance of the GIM, and will be funded by an initial investment of 25 million pesos (US$1.3 million) which comes from state and federal coffers.
Amnesty International applauded the move and emphasized the role of civic groups in exposing the nature and scale of Jalisco’s gender violence problem.
Alejandra Cartagena, a spokesperson for various women’s rights groups, lamented the fact that she and other activists were not invited to the press conference when the measures were announced. Cartagena said it showed “a lack of sensitivity” on the part of the authorities, who refused to recognize their work.
Jalisco is now the third state with an active gender alert – a mechanism introduced into law in 2007 following a surge of violent hate crimes against women in the border town of Ciudad Juarez.
Morelos and the State of Mexico launched similar emergency measures last year.
According to the National Citizen Femicide Observatory, at least seven women are killed every day in Mexico.