The alert mechanism for gender-based violence in Mexico: Reminiscent of a normative design that guarantees?SpanishEnglish

Feminicide violence is a serious problem that shows the Mexican State due to its complexity and indisputable need for immediate attention, through ad hoc mechanisms that show effective actions in the protection of the human right to a life free of violence of women. From the dogmatic-legal perspective, gender-based violence against women is studied, emphasizing what is specified by the Universal Human Rights System and the Inter-American Human Rights System as guidelines for action by the Mexican State. The statistical panorama of femicide violence in Mexico during the period January 2016 to April 2020, serves as a reference to analyze the normative design of the Alert Mechanism of Gender Violence against Women, in its aspects of: legitimising the active participation of civil society organisations; and, ambivalence of its subsidiary, emergency nature and its objectives. Introduction: The effective protection of women's right to a life free of violence represents an irreducible task of the Mexican State in the face of the evolution of femicide violence, in the terms of which it is necessary to consider what is required by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which, through its resolutions, has established important aspects in addressing this problem. This article focuses its analysis on two areas of the normative design of the Alert Mechanism of Gender Violence against Women in Mexico: ambivalence in its subsidiary, emergency nature and objectives; and, limiting the active participation of civil society organisations in their proceedings, points of opportunity that must be addressed in order to guarantee them the right to a life free of violence. Method: Based on analytical, dogmatic-legal methods and content analysis, it reflects on femicide violence as its concept, classifications and statistics in the Mexican territory, in order to generate a common thread between it and the criticism of the normative design of the Gender Violence Alert Mechanism on the ambivalence of its subsidiary, emergency nature and its objectives; and limiting the active participation of civil society organisations at the various stages of their proceedings. Results: The Gender Violence Alert enshrined in the General Law on Women's Access to a Life Free of Violence and its regulations constitutes an important action by the Mexican State in the face of femicide violence, however, its normative design shows that the ambivalence of its objectives and its purpose as an emergency mechanism; and, the manifest limitation to the active participation of Civil Society Organisations in their proceedings does not favour the effective protection of women's human right to a life free of violence. Discussion or conclusion: In order to guarantee women's human right to a life free of violence, the Mexican State needs to verify the normative congruence between the purpose and objectives of the Gender Violence Alert Mechanism enshrined in the General Law on Women's Access to a Life Free of Violence and its regulations, in order to underpin its temporary and emergency nature in the generation of short-term measures; and, of course, to legitimise the active participation of Civil Society Organisations throughout their procedure.