Gender

In the Mexican justice sector, our work on gender-based violence began in 2017 in collaboration with USAID’s Promoting Justice Project (Projust). We focused our systems change efforts on addressing high priority and high incidence crime, which in many Mexican states, meant focusing on domestic violence. During this initial phase, specialized frontline teams increased efficiency in case processing and improved services and support for victims.  

During the beginning of the COVID pandemic, most countries saw a surge in reports of domestic violence. This is also true for Mexico. Just three weeks after lockdown measures were announced, domestic violence calls to 911 soared by 60%. Unfortunately, there is no sign of a decline nearly two years on. This is why we have continued working with our partners and allies on GBVF in Mexico. Something is being done. Change is happening. Government and justice institutions are beginning to realize that there is another way of working and that there is a moral responsibility to these victims. We are helping Mexico to transform how the justice system responds to, protects, and manages gender-based violence, one step at a time but always with tangible results in mind. We aim to contribute to building safer and just environments for women and a justice system capable of responding to victims’ needs.

Our work in Mexico has focused on the following areas: identification of high-risk victims, adequate supervision of defendants with precautionary measures, comprehensive damage reparation for victims, and the swift issuing of lifesaving protection orders along with an increase in domestic violence case resolution rates. 

To date, in Mexico we have: 

• Implemented 85 100-Day Challenges in the justice sector with 38 frontline teams focused on gender-based violence in 17 cities across 10 states. This work has contributed to the resolution of 3,712 cases of domestic violence.

• 26,608 services offered to victims of domestic violence in Sonora as part of the multistate 100-Day Challenge with USAID's Justice Access for Victims and the Accused (JAVA) Program.
• 0% recidivism rate of the 102 defendants under supervision for domestic violence offenses in Zacatecas.
• Implementation of innovative practices in Ciudad Juárez to immediately identify and protect high-risk victims of domestic violence. The “orange code” consists of a series of questions and criteria used by 911 operators to identify victims who are in immediate danger. Flagging the orange alert on the system triggers a chain reaction from all the justice institutions involved to ensure a swift response from the police and protection measures for the victim.
• The implementation of a swifter police reporting system of crime reports and distress calls through WhatsApp in Tula, Hidalgo, which allowed for a more impactful response to the increase in domestic violence caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. 
• During the 100-Day Challenge with Projust in Tula, Hidalgo, the police began to receive crime reports (denuncias) and distress calls (llamadas de auxilio) through WhatsApp as a direct response to the situation provoked by the COVID-19 pandemic.
• In Zacatecas, the 100-Day Challenge with Projust prompted an important legislative reform to change the way domestic violence cases are processed: from querella (a criminal complaint filed by the victim, where in order for the case to proceed, the victim must consent to the criminal process) to de oficio (the Prosecutor's Office is obliged to act without the victim’s involvement in the criminal process).
• For the first time in Saltillo’s history, during the 100-Day Challenge with Projust, civil society-run shelters and justice institutions worked together to provide safe accommodation for high-risk victims of domestic violence - dramatically impacting the experience of victims throughout the criminal process.

In South Africa, our partner organization iResults has worked with the national government on the rollout of the National Strategic Plan (NSP) on gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) as well as local capacity building and the formation of multi-sectoral coalitions. The initial pilot program launched during the COVID-19 pandemic and involved eleven courts across six South African provinces. System leaders tasked frontline teams to reduce the backlog of domestic violence and sexual assault cases and to increase protection orders for victims. Find out more about our work on GBVF in South Africa here.