In November 2010, the Mexican Congress approved an unprecedented reparations fund for victims of human rights abuses. In four recent decisions, the Inter-American Court on Human Rights ruled that Mexican officials were responsible for violations and urged the Mexican government to provide economic reparations for the victims and their relatives.
Several grantees of the Open Society Latin America Program, including Fundar Center for Analysis and Investigation (Fundar), the Mexican Commission for Defense and Promotion of Human Rights (Comisión Mexicana de Defensa y Promoción de Derechos Humanos), and the Center for Human Rights Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez (Centro de Derechos Humanos, Centro Prodh), worked together to advocate for the Mexican government’s implementation of the rulings.
In 2009 and 2010, the Inter-American Court ruled on four cases of human rights violations. In the Campo Algodonero case, named for the location where the remains of several victims of femicide in Ciudad Juarez were discovered, the court found the Mexican state liable for institutional discrimination against women and the failure of state agents to act. In the other three cases, the court found Mexican military officials responsible for the forced disappearance of Rosendo Radilla Pacheco, and for the rapes of two indigenous women, Valentina Rosendo and Inés Fernández. The new fund by the Mexican government will provide reparations to these victims and their family members.