18 May 2010, 12.45 pm
School for Policy Studies, Common Room, 8 Priory Road, BS8 1TZ
A sandwich lunch will be provided - please let Melanie Turner know that you are attending Melanie.Turner@bristol.ac.uk
On December 10, 2009, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (CoIDH or Court) condemned the Mexican State for violating the human rights of three women who were disappeared, tortured (the Court uses the terms 'battered' and 'abused'), and murdered in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, as well as for the violation of the human rights of their mothers and next of kin - the so-called "Cotton Field" case.
The petition to investigate violations of human rights was presented to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (CIDH) individually by the mothers of three of the girls and women whose bodies were found in the Cotton Field. They claimed violations against their daughters, themselves and their next of kin. The investigation and the sentence of this matter in this instance are therefore restricted to these three cases. Nevertheless, as a result of the fact that the case relates to human rights violations and because of the context in which these violations were committed, the sentence has far broader implications as:
1. It recognizes that the violence against women seen in Ciudad Juarez since 1993 is a structural violation of human rights for which the Mexican State is responsible.
2. It establishes orders for reparation that include measures of non-repetition, in such a way that the onus falls on the State to take all necessary actions to ensure that similar crimes are not repeated. It also establishes reparation measures that include acknowledgement of and the undertaking of concrete actions in relation to, cases registered since 1993.
The seminar provides a unique opportunity to discuss the Cotton Field killings and wider issues related to femicide and human rights with a leading campaigner on the issues, Medina Rosas. Medina Rosas is a lawyer who has been working closely with international organizations and networks to raise awareness of femicide and review the role of the UK in the implementation of the EU guidelines on violence against women and girls and combating all forms of violence against them, passed on 8 Dec 2008.