Original language: German
Dear friends of Anne Klein,
dear Imelda Marrufo,
dear Claudia Roth,
dear Barbara Binek,
dear guests,
a warm welcome to what is now already the 3rd presentation of the Anne Klein Women’s Award.
Anne Klein established this wonderful award for us, and it is Imelda Marrufo—who, like Anne Klein, is a lawyer and feminist—whose courageous work for women’s rights we are honoring this year with the Anne Klein Women’s Award.
Through this prize, Anne Klein sought to inspire women, even after her death, to fight against discrimination and violence. Anne Klein was a pioneer for human rights, gender equality, and sexual self-determination, and she masterfully combined grassroots work with institutionalized women’s policy. The Heinrich Böll Foundation is deeply grateful to Anne Klein for her generous donation. We gather here every year in her honor to celebrate both her and such outstanding award recipients as Nivedita Prasad, who was the first to receive this new prize. Nivedita Prasad works tirelessly to ensure legal protection for all people, regardless of skin color, religion, or gender, and particularly impressed the jury with her fight for equal rights for employees in diplomatic households.
The second Anne Klein Women’s Prize went to the inspiring Serbian activist and intellectual Lepa Mlađenović. For decades, Lepa Mlađenović has been advocating for the rights of women and people whose sexual identities fall outside mainstream norms. You can read about what the award means to her and her work in Serbia in the small program booklet you’ll find at your seats.
True to Anne Klein’s spirit: the award makes a difference, encourages, fosters public and political recognition, and offers protection to courageous women’s rights activists.
With Imelda Marrufo, the award continues to fulfill its mission: Today we honor Imelda Marrufo—a woman who, for many years in Ciudad Juárez, a city in northern Mexico, has been fighting against impunity for the murders of women.
On behalf of the jury—which includes Renate Künast, Michaele Schreyer, Jutta Wagner, Thomas Herrendorf, and myself—we would like to honor and commend you, Imelda, for your passionate commitment to combating violence and murders against women. It was Imelda Marrufo who, together with fellow activists, founded the Mesa de Mujeres network after eight women were found murdered in a cotton field on the outskirts of Juárez in 2001. Imelda and her network are committed to restoring dignity to the victims, giving them names, faces, and stories.
And they are committed to holding the perpetrators—the murderers—accountable. Impunity is an endemic problem in Mexico. It takes a great deal of courage and fearlessness to stand up to violence and intimidation and advocate for criminal prosecution.
It was thanks in part to Imelda Marrufo and her organization, Mesa de Mujeres, that the murders of the eight women were heard before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. The Mexican state was found guilty in three cases for failing to guarantee the safety, integrity, and freedom of the murdered women, as well as their mothers and family members. This marked the first time that femicide was recognized in a court ruling as a human rights crime. Imelda Marrufo and this trial have brought femicides in Mexico to public attention. Femicides are murders of women simply because they are women. It is this extreme form of sexualized violence, combined with widespread impunity, that characterizes the concept of femicide. Imelda Marrufo, together with many women in Mexico and human rights defenders, is fighting against the creeping acceptance that women’s lives are worthless. And Mexican women are succeeding: legal centers are being established whose mission is to combine prevention efforts with individual counseling and prosecutorial work.
Femicide is not a uniquely Mexican phenomenon. It also occurs in other parts of the world. Nevertheless, Mexico—and in particular the city of Ciudad Juárez on Mexico’s northern border—has gained notoriety for its femicides.
As early as 1993, Oscar Maynez, a forensic criminologist working for the government, noticed that there were serial killings of women. There was no swift investigation or prosecution. The nightmare of countless murders of women continued.
Ciudad Juárez is a frightening and dangerous place, and not just because of the murders of women. In 2010, 3,100 people were killed in the city—that’s seven to eight murders a day! Although there are significantly fewer murders in Ciudad Juárez today, the overall security situation in Mexico remains alarming.
During Felipe Calderón’s six-year presidency, which ended in December 2012, 60,000 people fell victim to organized crime, and 150,000 people were displaced—according to Amnesty International. Other sources estimate even more deaths. Added to this are kidnappings and extortions. Mexico’s National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) published a widely noted study in 2013. According to the study, 105,600 people were kidnapped in Mexico in 2012, yet only 1,317 cases were reported to the police. And there were nearly six million incidents of extortion. In one out of every three Mexican households, at least one person has been the victim of a crime.
Only 4 percent of reported crimes result in an indictment, and 2 percent in a conviction. Impunity—as I’ve already said—is a massive problem in Mexico. Mexicans have no trust in the police or the justice system. The army and the police are seen as part of the structure of insecurity and injustice. Members of the army and police forces are accused of serious human rights violations.
Against this backdrop of pervasive violence, gang crime, and massive sexualized violence against women—and in light of the complete failure of the police and the justice system—we would like to pay tribute to the courage and fearlessness of Mexican women, to you, Imelda, and your fellow activists.
It is thanks to you that femicides are being brought to public attention, that law enforcement is gradually improving, and that the families of murder victims are finding comfort and legal assistance. We will learn even more about Imelda Marrufo and her work in Claudia Roth’s laudatory speech.
Dear Imelda, the jury of the Anne Klein Women’s Award is deeply impressed by you and your work. You have earned our admiration—for your concrete efforts to protect women, for advocating the recognition of femicide as a criminal offense, and for fighting impunity.
Anne Klein wanted women like you to be supported.
We hope that this award will bring you even more recognition and support. We want to protect and support you with the Anne Klein Women’s Award. We have therefore decided, in addition to the prize money, to launch a fundraising campaign to support the work of Mesa de Mujeres.
Dear Imelda, you say of yourself: “My calling is to speak out, never to be silenced—at any time.” We sincerely hope that, despite all the hardships, you can continue on your path with a cheerful spirit and alongside many fellow activists. We stand by your side. May the award and our solidarity continue to inspire and encourage you in your work.
