Mexico: a mother seeks justice at the United Nations for the femicide of her daughter

Geneva, 22 June 2022

A Mexican journalist whose daughter was killed four years ago filed today a complaint with the UN group of experts monitoring women’s rights worldwide after authorities in her country failed to properly investigate the case. On average, 11 women are murdered every day in Mexico, where impunity for femicides remains above 90%.

”The investigation into my daughter’s assassination was marred from the first hour”, said Soledad Jarquín Edgar. “Prosecutors in charge of the file have come and gone, President Manuel Lopez Obrador himself has promised justice but, four years on, the assassins are still free. I am now knocking on the last door, by filing a complaint with the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.”

María del Sol Cruz Jarquín, a 27-year-old photojournalist, was killed on 2 June 2018 in Juchitán, Oaxaca, together with the woman politician she worked with and their driver. A video shows two assailants spraying the victims with bullets. The crime scene was polluted within the next hour, evidence disappeared, and the investigation has not led to any prosecution. Soledad Jarquín, an award-winning journalist who has dedicated her life to seeking justice for her daughter, has faced constant threats, harassment, and intimidation.

It is the first time that a femicide case from Oaxaca is filed with the CEDAW committee, a body made of independent international experts. Ms Jarquín is supported by Consorcio Oaxaca, a Mexican human rights group which focuses on women, and by the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT).

Femicides have reached epidemic proportions in Mexico, with thousands of cases going unpunished year after year. The state of Oaxaca, where Maria del Sol lived with her mother, ranks fourth in the number of femicides in the country. The large indigenous population in Oaxaca faces systemic discrimination, with access to justice proving particularly difficult.

The World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) is the largest global NGO group actively standing up to torture and protecting human rights defenders worldwide. It has more than 200 members in 90 countries. Its international Secretariat is based in Geneva, Switzerland.

For more information, please contact :
Iolanda Jaquemet, Director of Communications
ij@omct.org
+41 79 539 41 06