Juarez Murders

WOLA works to support efforts to bring to justice those responsible for the murders of girls and women in the state of Chihuahua. Since 1993, over 450 girls and women have been killed in Ciudad Juárez and Chihuahua City, Mexico. Most of the victims were young and poor and many were sexually assaulted prior to their deaths. For many years, the authorities did little to investigate or prosecute those responsible and on occasion they used torture to extract confessions from scapegoats. Local authorities have improved their investigations into the more recent murders of women, especially those that are the product of domestic violence. However, many cases have not been adequately investigated, denying justice to the victim’s family members. In these cases, flaws in the police and judicial institutions compounded by gender biases, resulted in a blatant failure of Mexican authorities to investigate, prosecute and punish those responsible for the murders, contributing to a climate of impunity.