Mexico City: Sexual abuse is on the rise

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Sexual attacks

against women have increased by 2.56% during the first half of 2019, in contrast with the same period in 2018, according to the Citizen Observatory of Mexico City . The organization explained that the majority of cases are not reported because the attackers are family members or people close to the victims .

The report shows women don't report the attacks because women are often revictimized by public servants because despite the efforts made the current administration, victims are still mistreated.

According to the head of the observatory , Francisco Rivas , there are failures in the protocols implemented when women report a sexual attack.

“We found many cases where the person that is going to file a lawsuit is told that it's their fault; then, the medical tests to determine if the person was raped are not done on time or properly; nor is there a proper safeguard of the of the evidence nor is there a chain of custody , and for that reason, there is a lot of impunity ,” Rivas said.

It was also revealed that 667 investigation s were opened for rape during the first half of 2019.

The Cuauhtémoc borough is in the third place with the most open investigations for rape nationwide; the majority of the attacks take place in the Centro, Guerrero, Juárez, and Santa María la Ribera neighborhoods. Nevertheless, at least 4 attacks are registered in the city every day.

The second borough with the most open investigations is Álvaro Obregón , it's then followed by Miguel Hidalgo , and Milpa Alta, which have alarmed authorities because thanks to their geography, serial attackers could perpetrate crimes there.

It was emphasized that the sexual attacks against women are often perpetrated by friends and family members , a factor that pushes the victim to stay quiet and not report the attack because women are threatened or forced not to contact authorities, which complicates the investigation and solving the case, therefore, Francisco Rivas says the efforts should go beyond.

Rivas explained that “60% of the attacks take place inside the home and these attacks are the ones that are reported the least because the victim has a relationship with the attacker, therefore, there is fear because psychologically , a victim of sexual abuse will often feel guilty about what happened and when it is a family member, there are certain allegiances in the family which prevent the victim from reporting the attack or, sometimes, they prevent the victim to take the case before the Public Prosecutor .”

Police officers have been attacking women

One of the most striking cases took place last week. It was revealed that a woman was raped by a police officer from the Citizen Security Ministry (SSC) inside a government building .

According to reports, last week, a police officer i dentified as David “N”, raped a woman who was at the building to report a crim e. The woman immediately reported the attack and the police officer was arrested.

The local police chief, Jesús Orta Martínez , said that the attacker would be transferred to prison where he will face a supervisory judge. He said that the officer has been accused of rape but didn't reveal any further details.

Later, the judge sentenced the attacker to pretrial detention.