WOLA supports the victims’ families in their struggle for truth and justice, promotes initiatives that will lead to greater accountability and transparency in Mexico’s law enforcement and judicial institutions, calls for the sanction of government officials that failed to adequately investigate the murders because of negligence or omission, supports the work of the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team (EAAF) to identify unknown remains of murdered women, and encourages all sectors to support efforts to eliminate violence against women through education, prevention, and effective investigation and prosecution of the perpetrators. 

WOLA also works to engage U.S. policymakers in efforts to prevent and punish the murders of women in Ciudad Juárez and Chihuahua.

WOLA is concerned by the increasing role of the Mexican military in public security and counter-narcotics efforts. WOLA encourages efforts to strengthen the civilian police corps and for the establishment of a clear-cut distinction between military tasks and policing tasks in law-and-order functions.

WOLA supports the protection of the human rights of formerly gang-involved individuals, who are frequently victims of gang violence as well as victims of a legal system in which their rights cannot be guaranteed. We also support the protection of the human rights of any individual persecuted by gang violence. 

WOLA seeks to engage with Latino organizations in the United States, and with partners in Central America, working to promote best practices that address gangs in a comprehensive manner.WOLA opposes current U.S. policy toward Cuba. The four-decades long policy of  isolation and of “punishing” the Cuban government has only succeeded in harming the average Cuban while having little effect on the Cuban government. As do others in the human rights community, WOLA is critical of human rights violations in Cuba. While respectful of Cuban sovereignty, we believe that the most beneficial way to influence the state of human right and democracy on the island is by engaging with Cuban society.