Memorial for Lesvy and Femicide Victims 2019

The Memorial for Lesvy and the Victims of Femicide is both a physical and virtual platform that amplifies the voices of survivors and families of victims of violence against women, and of citizens .

It seeks raise public officials´ awareness regarding femicides and transfemicides in Mexico. It has a physical space within the General Attorney´s Office in Mexico City and a virtual space on a website; in both spaces you can actively participate and listen and read previous entries. The Memorial in its physical and virtual format seeks to redefine and transform the space within the General Attorney´s Office into one of living memory, reflection, information and collective protest to make violence visible and promote the right of women to a life without violence. The space belongs to the citizens, the Memorial is made by all of us.

FOR A LIFE WITHOUT VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
#VivasYLibresNosQueremos #NoEstamosTodasNosFaltanEllas #AhoraCaminamosJuntas #VerdadYJusticia #FuerzayMemoria #NiUnaMenos

www.memorialfeminicide.org

Video about the Memorial

Lesvy Berlin Rivera Osorio, 22 years old, was a happy, intelligent, polyglot young woman who enjoyed life, music and the arts, an independent and tenacious person with many plans, traveling the world and studying French languages were part of her dreams. On May 3rd, 2017, she was assassinated in Ciudad Universitaria (Mexico City´s National University Campus) and the authorities acted without due diligence regarding the case, committing several human rights violations.

In the search for the truth and access to justice, Lesvy's family managed to get Mexico City´s Human Right´s Commision to issue 18 recommendations for the case 01/2018 for the human rights violations committed by the General Attorney's Office (FGJCDMX), the Superior Court of Justice (TSJCDMX) and the local Public Security Secretariat (SSPCDMX). One of them was to create a cultural event to promote the right of women to a life without violence and to dignify the memory of Lesvy and the victims of femicide. This Memorial is the result of said recommendation, for which an open call was made to women artists for its creation. The proposal of the artist and activist CERRUCHA was selected.

Femicide is the most extreme degree of violence against women derived from a context of systematic and structural discrimination. According to the report “Femicidal Violence in Mexico, Approaches and Trends 1985-2016,” by UN-Women, in 10 years, femicidal violence has claimed the lives of more than 23,800 women in the country. Currently, the incidence is 10 women a day. Its attention requires the commitment, collaboration and coordination of all authorities and society for its eradication.

Therefore, the Memorial is a space for memory, life and change around gender violence created to help citizens, civil society organizations and the Government of Mexico to better understand the root causes of femicide, express its nature and intensity and propose a course of action to address this problem aiming to resolve it.

The Memorial was inaugurated on November 25th, 2019 and was installed with the purpose of having transformative scopes that allow a broad, permanent and deep dialogue guided through this work, with the intention of sending a triple message:

1.- Accompany victims and their relatives who come to report or follow up on a legal process.

2.- In the case of the public servants who work there, motivate a timely, gradual reflection that leads to adequate comprehensive care, based on a principle that has people at the center, as well as the highest standards that guarantee the rights of girls and women to a life without violence.

3.- Towards the general public, so that we become aware of the seriousness of femicidal violence and provoke reflection, and actions also in our closest circles.

The Memorial has several ways of being experienced, inviting constant citizen participation as it is a space under permanent construction, just like society.