AMERICA/MEXICO - "Violence against women is a social challenge", says Bishop Sanchez

Monday, 25 November 2013

Durango (Agenzia Fides) - On the occasion of International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, the Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of Durango, His Exc. Mgr. Enrique Sánchez Martínez, invited the community to greater awareness of this serious problem. During and after the Sunday Mass yesterday, the Bishop said that violence against women is a social and cultural challenge, because it is becoming a socially tolerated behavior". Although the economic condition, alcoholism and drug addiction are not the direct cause of such violence, we see, however, that these elements increase, but the root of this violence is the unequal exercise of power in the family and social life", said Bishop Martínez Sánchez.
He then complained that, in addition to domestic violence, many Mexican women suffer violence in different social contexts, including some work environments where there are no "appropriate conditions for women".
According to the note sent to Fides Agency by a local source, Mgr. Sánchez Martínez pointed out that the reality of violence against women is very alarming: the National Institute for Women reported that, of the 120,000 rapes reported each year in Mexico, 106,000 go unpunished. In addition, the 14,000 complaints that go to trial, in nearly four thousand cases, offenders get less than 14 years of imprisonment. In Mexico, from 1985 to 2010 there were at least 136 606 cases of violence, of which 5.6 per cent against girls under five years of age.
"Every day, 6.5 women are killed, thrown in cemeteries or in landfills. The problem of violence is serious in our country. Seven out of 10 women have been victims of some type of aggression, among the most common is the control of money, verbal abuse, harassment on public transport and beatings", concluded the Bishop. (CE) (Agenzia Fides 25/11/2013)


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