Selected rape victim testimonies. -- Impunity for sexual and domestic violence. Sexual and domestic violence: Underreported and underrepresented in government crime estimates - Inadequate legal framework for the prevention and punishment of violence against women: State law and policy on domestic violence ; state law and policy on sexual violence. - Lax implementation of legal standards: Pervasive distrust of rape victim testimony ; Other barriers to reporting rape ; Undue emphasis on reconciliation and mediation ; The cost of justice ; Lack of public services. -- Abortion in Mexico. Legal framework, public debate, and occurrence - Prosecution for illegal abortions. -- Obstructing access to legal abortion after rape. States with no administrative guidelines for abortion after rape: Non-existing or inaccurate information on legal abortions ; Denial that cases of unwanted pregnancy after rape exist ; Aversion to facilitating legal abortion after rape ; Actively discouraging abortion after rape ; No legal abortion for incest and "Estupro" ; Undue delays ; Intimidation in the justice sector. - States with administrative or legal guidelines for abortion after rape: Unduly complicated procedures ; Illegal delays ; Lack of information or biased information ; "Covert" provision of abortion services and continued stigmatization ; Intimidation in the health sector ; Need for accompaniment. - Conscientious objection by medical professionals - Consequences of limited access to abortion after rape. -- International legal standards. International law and violence against girls and women in Mexico - International law and abortion after rape or incest : U.N. Treaty body concern with legal obstacles to abortion after rape or incest ; U.N. Treaty body concern with administrative obstacles to abortion after rape or incest. -- Conclusion. -- Detailed recommendations. To the federal government of Mexico: To the president of Mexico ; To the federal congress ; To the national health ministry ; To the national ministry of the interior. - To state governments and the government of the federal district: To state governors and the head of government for the federal district ; To local congresses and the legislative assembly of the federal district ; To health ministries of the states and the federal district ; To the attorney general offices of the states and the federal district ; To the integrated family service agencies (Sistema para el Desarrollo Integral de la Familia, DIF) of the states and the federal district. -- Acknowledgements.

Lawless elements are ascendant in Mexico, as evidenced by the operations of criminal cartels engaged in human and drug trafficking, often with the active support or acquiescence of government actors. The sharp increase in the number of victims of homicide, disappearances and torture over the past decade is unparalleled in the country's recent history. According to editors Alejandro Anaya-Muñoz and Barbara Frey, the "war on drugs" launched in 2006 by President Felipe Calderón and the corrupting influence criminal organizations have on public institutions have empowered both state and nonstate actors to operate with impunity. Impunity, they argue, is the root cause that has enabled a human-rights crisis to flourish, creating a climate of generalized violence that is carried out, condoned, or ignored by the state and precluding any hope for justice. Mexico's Human Rights Crisis offers a broad survey of the current human rights issues that plague Mexico. Essays focus on the human rights consequences that flow directly from the ongoing "war on drugs" in the country, including violence aimed specifically at women, and the impunity that characterizes the government's activities. Contributors address the violation of the human rights of migrants, in both Mexico and the United States, and cover the domestic and transnational elements and processes that shape the current human rights crisis, from the state of Mexico's democracy to the influence of rulings by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights on the decisions of Mexico's National Supreme Court of Justice. Given the scope, the contemporaneity, and the gravity of Mexico's human rights crisis, the recommendations made in the book by the editors and contributors to curb the violence could not be more urgent. Contributors: Alejandro Anaya-Muñoz, Karina Ansolabehere, Ariadna Estévez, Barbara Frey, Janice Gallagher, Rodrigo Gutiérrez Rivas, Susan Gzesh, Sandra Hincapié, Catalina Pérez Correa, Laura Rubio Díaz-Leal, Natalia Saltalamacchia, Carlos Silva Forné, Regina Tamés, Javier Treviño-Rangel, Daniel Vázquez, Benjamin James Waddell.

How can we understand and contest the global wave of violence against women? In this book, Alison Brysk shows that gender violence across countries tends to change as countries develop and liberalize, but not in the ways that we might predict. She shows how liberalizing authoritarian countries and transitional democracies may experience more shifting patterns and greater levels of violence than less developed and democratic countries, due to changes and uncertainties in economic and political structures. Accordingly, Brysk analyzes the experience of semi-liberal, developing countries at the frontiers of globalization--Brazil, India, South Africa, Mexico, the Philippines, and Turkey--to map out patterns of gender violence and what can be done to change those patterns. As the book shows, gender violence is not static, nor can it be attributed to culture or individual pathology--rather it varies across a continuum that tracks economic, political, and social change. While a combination of international action, law, public policy, civil society mobilization, and changes in social values work to decrease gender violence, Brysk assesses the potential, limits, and balance of these measures. Brysk shows that a human rights approach is necessary but not sufficient to address gender violence, and that insights from feminist and development approaches are essential.