Mexico City — Women’s rights organizations have accused President Claudia Sheinbaum of breaking her promise to strengthen gender violence protection mechanisms, as 26 Gender Violence Alerts remain paralyzed across 23 states.
At a press conference, activists said the government’s negligence and omission forced them to seek legal action, winning a court order that requires Sheinbaum’s administration to regulate gender violence laws.
“We regret that laws created to protect women from violence have to be litigated to be enforced. That is very serious in a country where 10 to 11 women are murdered every day and where severe contexts of disappearance have been identified,” said María de la Luz Estrada, a prominent activist.
Ana Yeli Pérez Garrido, of the organization Justicia Pro Persona, explained that in April 2022, under former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the General Law on Women’s Access to a Life Free of Violence was enacted. One of its transitory articles gave the presidency 60 days to publish the corresponding regulations — a deadline that has never been met.
Activists also criticized Citlalli Hernández, the first head of the newly created Women’s Secretariat, for paralyzing the mechanism that oversees compliance with gender alerts. The Fifth Collegiate Administrative Court ordered authorities to resume work on drafting the regulations and to issue a binding calendar for validation, legal review, and submission to the Presidency’s Legal Counsel.
According to Pérez Garrido, the lack of regulation and the Women’s Secretariat’s decision to eliminate the requirement for states under alert to report progress every six months have hindered the implementation of all 26 active gender alerts. The groups say unclear procedures and discretionary actions by authorities have delayed urgent measures to protect women and girls.
Estrada cited the lack of clear parameters for allocating federal resources to address alert recommendations as an example of such discretion.
