What is the Fatima law formulated on the basis of the murder of a 7-year-old girl in 2020?

On March 8 of this year, the Chamber of Commerce passed the Fatima Law that encourages the training, training and sensitivity of officials to complaints about sexual violence. This is to prevent victims from being re-victimized, and now Movimiento Ciudadano argues that this initiative must be ratified by the Senate of the Republic.

The meeting of deputies held at the General Assembly of the House of Representatives approved the reform of the General Law on Administrative Responsibility (LGRA) in favor of 449 unanimously, which allows us to make visible the problems faced by girls and women throughout Mexico, which must be addressed by gender-sensitive officials.

In particular, it will be added to the first paragraph of Article 7 of the Law, which will have to be sacrificed again by officials when one of the problems faced by victims of violence against women is complaining, and this negligence will nullify the correct remarks and increase the visibility of facts of this nature.

The capital authorities had enough information to act on behalf of the child, but that didn't happen (Photo: Reuters/Henry Romero)

As a result, it can be seen that there are flaws in the formation of databases and statistics on violence against women. Because incorrect documentation of these events provides incorrect data that is interpreted by the State and subsequently resolved.

The initiative was named after Fatima in relation to Fatima Cecilia, a 7-year-old girl who was reported missing on February 11, 2020 after leaving elementary school in the office of Mayor Sochimilco in Mexico City. On the 15th of that month, she was found to be lifeless at Mayor Tlahuac's office. Given this, local authorities were already aware of the violent environment the victim was in, so a law was enacted to prevent this from happening again.

In this regard, Ana Katiria Suárez Castro, the lawyer of the Fatima case, listed the discrepancies of the authorities because when the facts were reported, they acted without a gender perspective, which allowed the aggressor to proceed more violently against minors.

Little Fatima and her brother were victims of sexual abuse (Photo: REUTERS/Henry Romero)

1.- Before the disappearance, the family asked the DIF to go to Fatima's house for a violation in which the brother was a victim. The call was to prevent attacks on her and her. The DIF knew the help they requested, but did nothing.

2.- After the disappearance, the authorities asked to start the search for 72 hours, but did not take into account the age of the child under 7 years of age.

3.- In the Prosecutor's Office of the FGR and CDMX, there were no criminal cases against school workers due to lack of elements.

For this reason, at the time of legislation, it was requested that this reform had a binding scope for the protection of women, regardless of age. It also emphasized that the law should promote the sensitivity of officials to this issue.

The lawyer also pointed out that this case and its slow approval should highlight the issue of sexual violence, and in addition to this approval, he also demanded that if there are signs of aggression, be promoted to a law related to the murder process. Because there is a history of violence.

Keep reading: