Mexican State advance in the promotion, protection and respect of the full exercise of women human rights to access to justice and reparation for the entire population , especially that found in contexts of greater vulnerability, in conditions of equality and under the principle of leaving no one behind
The outcome was not achieved but some progresses were made in 2023. For the implementation of the Women Peacebuilders strategy (MUCPAZ) , during 2023, 987 Networks of Women Peacebuilders have been formed with the participation of more than 22 000 women . The Networks of Women Peacebuilders are working, planning and citizen participation groups for women to become multipliers of peace processes at the territorial level (local/municipal), contributing to social violence prevention efforts carried out by local and federal governments and incorporating the gender perspective in the development of activities.
T he Women Peacebuilders (MUCPAZ) networks were installed in 11 states of Mexico (Aguascalientes, Baja California, Baja California Sur, Chiapas, Chihuahua, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Jalisco, Sonora, Sinaloa and Yucatán) and have been strengthened through the accompaniment, follow-up and systematization of the implementation of the strategy by the INMUJRES with technical support of UN Women Mexico.
In addition, the National Meeting of MUCPAZ Networks was held on November 23 and 24, with the purpose of facilitating a space for dialogue between women peace builders, the federal government and local authorities on peace building, public safety and the prevention of violence against women. The Meeting was attended by 500 members of MUCPAZ Networks, implementing bodies from the Federal Entities, both from the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System, as well as from the Women's Instances of the Federal Entities (IMEF). Also, heads of the Municipal Women's Instances and municipal authorities; the UN Women representative in Mexico, and the MUCPAZ Strategy guidelines at the national level, Inmujeres and SESNSP, who carried out the general coordination of the meeting.
The content-axes that the strategy promoted in 2023 are the following:
Appropriation of public space to consolidate the objective of visibility and community recognition of women in their own spaces.
Strategies for the prevention of violence against women.
Collective elaboration of Community Action Plans.
Experience of organization and advocacy.
Visibility of experiences for economic strengthening as a violence prevention strategy.
The National Meeting of MUCPAZ Networks represented a space for collective learning, mutual recognition and future projection for the MUCPAZ strategy in the country.
UN Women Mexico has advocated efforts both with UNHCR and IOM, as well as with national authorities (particularly with the National Institute for Women has developed a research and action line on human mobility.
Migrant women in the municipality of Tapachula benefited through the implementation of the Circuitos de Bienestar (Wellbeing Circuits) for migrant women, which integrate services provided by institutions of the three levels of government, international agencies and civil society organizations, especially aimed at the population of migrant women and applicants for refugee status at the southern border, traveling with their children, and women residing in Tapachula. 12 government institutions and agencies and 11 international and civil society organizations participated in the implementation of activities of the Circuitos de Bienestar, offering information services (migration procedures, access to and protection of rights, prevention of violence against women and their families, among others) and direct health, mental health and self-employment services.
Additionally, 429 women in migrant mobility in the state of Tapachula received legal orientation and psychological support in the attention modules installed in the Community Development Center (CEDECO), as part of the strengthening activities that UN Women implements in the field.
Finally, in addressing migration, Mexican institutions are aware of the product Central American migration: factors of expulsion and attraction of the Guatemalan, Salvadoran and Honduran population from a gender perspective . The objective of this study was to analyze, from a gender perspective, the expulsion and attraction factors that affect the migration of women and men, giving specificity to the motivations, conditions, needs and challenges in the migration processes. as well as the possibilities of integration or return, necessary elements in proposing lines of action for the care of migrants. This initiative includes public policy recommendations for promoting and safeguarding the rights of women and girls during their migration processes.
Within the collaboration of the National Institute for Women (INMUJERES) and UN Women in Mexico, 400 women, including governors, federal deputies, local deputies, secretaries of state, representatives of civil society organizations, members of the Observatory of Women's Political Participation in Mexico, activists, and academics, commemorated the 70th anniversary of women's suffrage in Mexico , generating a space for reflection and analysis on the progress of women's political participation and parity democracy in the country. Under the slogan "From suffrage to parity in action" , a space for reflection and analysis was generated on the progress of women's political participation and parity democracy, with the participation of women in elected office and in decision-making spaces.
The event was a call to action and to keep in mind that parity must be addressed locally; increase the participation of indigenous women in decision-making positions. We need policies that facilitate the reconciliation of work and care.
To advance the consolidation of work in this crucial area for guaranteeing women's rights, UN Women Mexico signed in December 2023, two memoranda of understanding with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and International Organization for Migration (IOM) to strengthen collaboration mechanisms with both agencies. UN Women is in the process of moving forward with the signing of UN-to-UN Agreements with both agencies for the receipt of funds related to labor relations and ethical recruitment.
The main challenge in this issue is that funds for human mobility tend to be quite competitive with other agencies, and donors usually allocate them to agencies with a long history in the subject (UNHCR, IOM and UNICEF). With the extra-core allocations provided by HQ through the W0007 fund, the Office has been able to recruit a specialist in humanitarian action and human mobility.
By 2025, the Mexican State has a comprehensive strategy for social development, combating multidimensional poverty and inequality, with an integrated approach to human rights, gender, interculturality, life cycle and territory, which incorporates re-distributive mechanisms without leaving anyone behind.
UN Women Mexico made progress on the outcome in 2023. To advance women's rights and influencing key international dialogues, UN Women Mexico played a pivotal role, in collaboration with the UNCT, in reporting and evaluation processes of the Mexican State in alignment with its obligations to international human rights treaty bodies: UN MEXICO Report – 4th UPR Cycle (Universal Periodic Review); Advocacy Brief for UN Women Mexico's UPR Recommendations "Suggested recommendations by UN Women Mexico Universal Periodic Review of Mexico"; UNCT Mexico Report on the List of Issues Prior to Reporting for CEDAW Committee; Contributions to UNCT Report on the List of Issues Prior to Reporting VII Cycle for CESCR Committee; Written Opinion on the Request for an Advisory Opinion presented by the Argentine Republic before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.
High-level, evidence-focused, and technically solid events are an important enabler of political commitment. In 2023, the office prioritized specific events where the whole office was involved, such as the Noche por la igualdad and emblematic activations, which resulted in strong commitment of national partners and strengthened positioning of UN Women as a key player in gender-responsive implementation and monitoring of SDGs.
The Night for Equality , an event to present the 2022 results achieved by UN Women Mexico, contributed to communicate the importance of Generation Equality. Among these results were: initiatives for a national care system; recognition and protection of domestic workers´ rights; as well as fostering women´s political and economic leadership. The event served to promote resource mobilization and advocacy for gender equality projects in Mexico.
Promotion of socio-cultural transformation to not leave any women or girl behind was addressed through the UN Women HeForShe movement. Specific actions of the HeForShe (HfS) movement in Mexico included scholarships for women and actions such as the one implemented by the Tec de Monterrey university, that due to its work with HeForShe, was invited to be part of the panel Being Respectfully Disruptive in The Pursuit of Gender Equality , in the Global HeForShe Summitt . Tec de Monterrey was represented by one of its most vocal students of HfS, who participated with CEOs and managers from international companies in the Summit that gathered global HeForShe champions.
Awareness on gender equality was generated via communication campaigns and activations by UN Women with institutions like IMER and Canal 22; as well as key public figures. Marion Reimers, Good Will Ambassador, participated in the Official Commemoration of International Women's Day 2023 (IWD ) at the United Nations in New York. Ximena Sariñana, Good Will Ambassador, met with women participants from Second Chance Education to learn more of the impact of the program in Mexico. Karla Souza, UN Women Mexico´s Spokesperson, joined the UNITE campaign and participated in the screening of the film Dive in the Film Festival to prevent violence against women and girls organized by UN Women Mexico and the Ministry of Culture. Magos Herrera, UN Women Mexico Spokesperson, presented the Con Alma Concert at the 67th annual Commission on the Status of Women (CSW67).
The International Cooperation Roundtable in Mexico established a new co-chaired Presidency with the Embassy of Chile and the German Embassy. The presence of the ICRM was amplified as a successful platform for sharing best practices and experiences at a local and national level with a field visit to Tlaxcala. It was also an opportunity to expand our knowledge on the Mexican local context and explore different ways of collaboration with Mexican local states.
The ICRM published two editorial opinions Invertir para prevenir la violencia es una tarea de todos y de todas and Prevenir la violencia contra las mujeres: tarea de todos y todas about the prevention and elimination of violence against women. Awareness-raising was spread as a clear message of zero tolerance of all forms of violence against women and girls through the international film festival showcasing 7 pieces of female directors.
Collaboration between Mexico CO and HQ facilitated the successful participation of one of the Civil Society Advisory Group (CSAG) members that promoted the vision of Latin America in an international conference of feminist foreign policy on the main challenges in terms of climate change and feminist foreign policy, following the principle of leaving no one behind .
Capacity building with UN Women CSAG was amplified by a training to the communications team on how to include a disability perspective in every social media communication. It was also strengthened with the facilitation of a meeting with the former CSAG members and with diverse meetings with the LAC regional CSAG. This marks a huge step forward in the importance of being inclusive and leaving no one behind.
Enhanced coordination, coherence and accountability of the UN system for commitments to gender equality and women´s empowerment
CO constantly works in coordination groups within the UN system. The GTG (Gender Thematic Group) is co-chaired by UN Women and UNFPA, together with the support of the Resident coordinator office. Coordination and planification of the work of the GTG is constantly reinforced by different mechanisms like trainings, advocacy campaigns coordinated with the COMMGROUP and with the collaboration of the development of different intergovernmental reports like CEDAW and UPR (Universal Periodic Review). The GTG seeks to coordinate efforts to achieve gender equality within the system in Mexico by an established and approved work-plan. A pool funding for the GTG was consolidated on 2023, UN Women will administrate the funds. We received a total of 32,000 USD in resources with the contribution of the following agencies: UNICEF, UNFPA, UNHCR, UNOPS, UN Women, UN Habitat, UNDP. On 2024 we are expecting more agencies to contribute.
The GTG coordinates efforts with all UN agencies to develop the UNCT SWAP Gender Scorecard report. On 2023 five indicators were reported that demonstrated the need to enhance gender equality within the UN system in Mexico. A set of commitments were adopted at the last UN programmatic forum in order to achieve improvements for the next UNCT SWAP report. For 2024, the GTG is working on different tools to use to recover inputs from all agencies in order to measure the progress of UN system in Mexico and to increase funding for gender equality programs.
Increased engagement of partners in support of UN Women’s mandate
The CO staff involved in programme management and implementation know the importance of capacity assessment of potential programme partners both during programme formulation and programme implementation according to their nature (Government Entity, CSO, IGO, private sector, etc.) guided by the Programme Partner Management Policy and the Selection Programme Partners Procedure.
For the private sector, prior to November 2023 the Due Diligence Policy and Procedure set the principles to assess and approve programme partners of the private sector. Since 1 November 2023, the Private Sector Engagement Policy and the Private Sector Engagement Procedure establish a systematic approach to UN Women’s development, assessment, establishment and management of private sector engagements and risks.
The CO maintains constant communication with the Private Sector Partnerships (PSP) section throughout the approach with potential partners and during program formulation utilizing the resources provided by them. This guarantees alignment in priorities and strategies in accordance with the established Policy and Procedure.
In addition, the CO maintains constant communication between the thematic areas to ensure a comprehensive approach with the programme partners of the private sector.
High quality of programmes through knowledge, innovation, results-based management and evaluation.
- During the fourth quarter, UNW CO completed a draft of the new study titled "" Narrative study focusing on the case of the National Care System in Mexico,"" with the primary objective of providing an account of the key characteristics of the public debate on caregiving in Mexico. The study aims to delve into the examination of communication strategies employed by the involved actors and how they construct the narrative that imparts meaning to the proposed policies. This initiative involves conducting an empirical analysis of the frames and narratives surrounding caregiving in Mexico. The starting point for this analysis is the legislative discussion and various events that have contributed to recognizing the public problem revealed by the care crisis. The study is strategically designed to offer comprehensive insights into the dynamics of the public discourse on caregiving and the shaping of narratives surrounding policy proposals, contributing to a nuanced understanding of the caregiving landscape in Mexico. This new study will contribute to disseminate up-to date and innovative knowledge to personnel and counterparts. - UN Women Country Office in Mexico is better prepared for decision-making in the following years, thanks to a new Country Office plan for 2024-2025, which addresses activities, outputs, budget, potential mobilized resources and indicators for results. - UN Women in Mexico carried out continuous programmatic and financial monitoring of the Annual Work Plan and coordinate annual and specific programme reporting. - UN Women in Mexico collaborated in an evaluation regarding results on social norms that certain programmes of the Office had. The results of this evaluationm, which had a gender and feminist perspective were recieved during the last quarter of 2023.