femicide

Find out about the killing of women in Central America

Posted November 22nd, 2009 by Megan Rowling
in

ON 25th NOVEMBER, WE SPEAK OUT AGAINST WOMAN-KILLING IN MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA

25th November is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and the beginning of the annual 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence. To mark it, the Central America Women’s Network (CAWN) and the Honduran Women’s Studies Centre (CEMH) are holding three events condemning the rising violence against women and girls in the region and worldwide and calling for an end to this violence:

25 Nov, 4–6pm: Parliamentary meeting. House of Commons, London

26 Nov, 7.30pm: Film screening, followed by Q&A “Killer’s Paradise: Women Victims of Violence in Guatemala ”. Bolivar Hall, London , W1T.

27 Nov, 3-6pm: Seminar “Extreme forms of Violence against Women: Femicide in Mexico and Central America ”. Woburn House Conference Centre, London , WC1.

Guatemala: ‘For the life of women, no more killings’

Posted January 25th, 2009 by Megan Rowling
in
Patrick Daniels

Since 2001, thousands of young women and girls have been killed in Guatemala in an epidemic of unsolved murders. The numbers paint a horrific picture – 481 deaths in 2004, 338 in 2005, 471 in 2006 and 431 in 2007, according to Grupo de Apoyo Mútuo (GAM), a well-respected Guatemalan human rights organisation. In the first six months of 2008, the figure stood at 214.

The majority of the victims were young, poor women between the ages of 13 and 30. Many were students, housewives, factory workers, domestic employees or workers in the informal sector; some of the victims were professionals. Faced with this growing wave of brutal killings, the Guatemalan government has failed to bring those responsible to justice. The low priority of the issue is reflected in the scant resources allocated to investigations and the almost complete absence of prosecutions – there have been rulings in only 20 femicide cases since 2000.

Syndicate content