MEXICO TO SUBMIT A PROGRESS REPORT TO THE UN COMMITTEE ON THE ELIMINATION OF ALL FORMS OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN

In compliance with its international obligations, on Tuesday, July 17, the Mexican government will submit its latest report to the international committee composed of 23 experts that monitors implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

Mexico’s presentation of the report—which covers the period from August 2006 to the present—will take place at UN headquarters in New York. Mexican government officials, including the legislative, judicial and executive branches, will provide the UN committee with information how the convention is being applied in Mexico, including the recent constitutional reform on human rights that gives constitutional status to the CEDAW.

Thirty years after Mexico’s ratification of the CEDAW, the country has made far-reaching progress on women’s rights in all spheres of the country’s social and political life. The Mexican delegation, headed by the President of the National Women's Institute, Rocio Garcia Gaytan, will explain to the committee the various developments and challenges in the legislative and institutional areas and the public policies designed to help women achieve equality and the fight to eliminate violence and discrimination.

The delegation will explain the new frameworks for action for the General Law for Equality between Men and Women, the General Law on Access of Women to a Life Free of Violence and the Law to Prevent and Punish Trafficking in Persons, in addition to Official Standard 046 for the care of women in cases of domestic and sexual violence. Based on a recent amendment to the Federal Criminal Code, it will emphasize the importance of including for the first time the murder of women in the code. In addition, the delegation will explain the transformation involved in specifically including gender issues in the budgets since 2008. This has expanded each year and a gender perspective has also been included in Mexico’s budget of expenditures.

The delegation will also give a progress report on implementation of the National Programme for Equality between Women and Men 2008-2012 (PROIGUALDAD) and will explain the National System for Prevention, Care, Punishment and Eradication of Violence against Women.
A specific topic will be the issue of access to justice for women, which includes the figure of the Special Prosecutor for Crimes of Violence against Women and Trafficking (FEVIMTRA); the national network of shelters for dealing with violence against women; the Justice Centers for Women in Mexico; police protocols for gender violence; and the National Data Bank and Information on cases of violence against Women (BANAVIM), both of the Public Security Ministry.

Regarding equality, the delegation will explain the programs, steps and strategies of the Ministries of Social Development, Agriculture, Education and Health and the National Commission for Development of Indigenous Peoples, among others, for addressing the situation of women in Mexico with a gender perspective and in a comprehensive fashion. As regards the issue of political participation and representation of women, the delegation will report on the manifest progress made in this field at the international level with reference to the last federal elections in which the number of female candidates for deputies and senators almost equaled the number of male candidates.

Mexico will also discuss the challenges in this area, including that of violence against women, femicides and access to justice, as well as the social and economic challenges.

This presentation by Mexico has attracted attention from organized civil society, which has so far submitted 17 shadow reports. The CSOs will also have the opportunity to talk to the committee.

Mexico signed the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) on July 17, 1980 and ratified it on March 23, 1981, presenting its first report to the Committee on the Convention in 1982.