Universal-Womens-accesss-to-justice-Publications-Practitioners-Guide-Series-2016-ENG

V
WOMEN’S ACCESS TO JUSTICE FOR GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE 77
Investigations had failed to identify perpetrators and bring
them to justice, and reports of missing girls and women were
met with contempt and indifference by the authorities. The
Inter-American Court ruled that Mexico should provide
structural reparation to address the situation of genderdiscrimination
and class discrimination against factory workers
living in poverty, which contributed to the torture and murders
of the young women and girl who were killed. The Inter-
American Court noted that:
“[T]he concept of “integral reparation” (restitutio in
integrum) entails the re-establishment of the previous
situation and the elimination of the effects produced by
the violation, as well as the payment of compensation
for the damage caused. However, bearing in mind the
context of structural discrimination in which the facts of
this case occurred, which was acknowledged by the
State, the reparations must be designed to change this
situation, so that their effect is not only of restitution,
but also of rectification. In this regard, re-establishment
of the same structural context of violence and
discrimination is not acceptable.” 200
In this context, the Inter-American Court required that Mexico
improve its investigation and protection processes when
families report that a woman or girl has gone missing. The
Court stressed that it was necessary that officials who were
derelict in their duty should be sanctioned. It required Mexico
to undertake initiatives to commemorate the women who were
killed, mandating a day of national memory, and to institute
memorials to the girls and women who were killed.
Reparations may need to be of a multi-layered and complex
nature in order to provide the variety of benefits really needed
to transform a situation and empower women. The Special
Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and
consequences, in her 2010 report, noted that: “Reparations for
women… should strive to have a transformative potential…
200
Ibid, paragraph 450.