We, the undersigned, call upon the next Mexican government to make the prevention, punishment and eradication of violence against women, and specifically the waves of murders and mutilation of women in Ciudad Juarez and elsewhere in Mexico, a national priority.

Therefore, we urge you to publicly commit to take these concrete steps to prevent and punish violence against women in Mexico while in office. WE EXPECT ALL PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES TO PUBLICLY ACCEPT THE FOLLOWING PLEDGE:

If elected as President of the United States of Mexico, I solemnly pledge:

1. To make the prevention, punishment and eradication of murders and mutilation of women in Ciudad Juarez and elsewhere in Mexico a national priority;
2. To set up and ensure full cooperation with an independent interdisciplinary team of experts to investigate the murders of women in Ciudad Juarez and in the rest of Mexico, with the aim of contributing to efforts by state and federal prosecutors to bring the perpetrators of those crimes to justice;
3. To create a national toll-free number to allow for the reporting of gender-based and sexual violence to an independent monitoring force, and to allow for anonymous reporting for such crimes;
4. To step up violence prevention programmes and policies, including early warning mechanisms and the reinforcement of security in dangerous or isolated areas;
5. To coordinate and amplify efforts at the federal, State and Municipal levels to improve such basic services as lighting in marginal areas and zones that have been associated with security risk; security with respect to transportation; the paving of roads in marginal areas - and to allocate the funds necessary to provide such services;
6. To ensure that state and federal offices of the Attorney General guarantee free legal support in providing access to justice and to all legal guarantees of protection for the victims of violence and the relatives of murdered and abducted women and girls; and
7. To insist that all public officials act with due diligence to take all appropriate steps within their mandate to contribute to the prevention, punishment, and eradication of the murder and mutilation of women and girls in Ciudad Juarez and elsewhere in Mexico.

These steps mirror only a fraction of the recommendations emitted to the Mexican state by international human rights monitoring bodies on what Mexico must do to fulfill its international human rights obligations. Recently both the Federal and State governments have taken some important steps to address violence against women in Chihuahua. However the fulfillment of this pledge is necessary to reinforce and expand upon the actions taken. On June 30, 2006, we will let the Mexican public know who accepted this pledge.

Signed this day _____________ June, 2006