2017 Annual Report

The organization Brigada Callejera (Street Brigade) succeeded in passing an amendment to the Municipal Code in the State of Coahuila, in which 29 occupations are recognized as formal jobs, including sex work. This law change protects the activities of sex workers and places them in a less vulnerable position.

The groups supported by the Work program promoted labor rights of women workers through strategies such as:

• Raising awareness among domestic workers, agricultural day laborers, sex workers, and factory workers about their rights.
• Development of attractive and accessible educational materials, including comics for sex workers and a book about the work of agricultural day laborers in San Quintin, Baja California, among others.
• Creation of an online job board for domestic workers, through which 24 to 30 women per month have been hired with fair and dignified working conditions.
• Formation of a new working group called Defensoras Laborales Unidas en la Maquila [Labor Defenders United in the Maquila] that brings together four grantee organizations with the purpose of increasing the impact of their work and accessing more outside financing.

The Red de Mujeres de la Costa Chica [Costa Chica Women's Network] began transmission of a community radio station called Ña'a (Brave Women) in Pinotepa de Don Luis, Oaxaca. The radio programing addresses issues of autonomy and empowerment of Afro-Mexican women, and can be heard at 90.1 FM in the 22 towns of the municipality.

Through the Identities program reactivation, strengthening and partnership building among lesbian organizations was achieved, some of whose main results were:

• Creation of a national agenda based on the needs of the LGBTTIQA+ movement from a feminist perspective
• Implementation of awareness-raising activities for public officials to reduce discrimination faced by the LGBTTIQA+ community
• Incorporation of sports and arts as strategies for empowerment, such as soccer, dance, and theater
• Accompaniment of women and other members of the community who have been victims of violence and discrimination
• Identification of new priority issues, such as transgender children and the mental health of the members of the LGBTTIQA + community

Some of the organizations that promote the rights of migrant women and girls carried out actions such as the following:

• Accompaniment and reunification of separated families
• Attaining humanitarian visas
• Legal and psychological attention in migrant detention centers
• Training of human rights promoters for migrants along the southern boder

On December 13th, 2017, Equifonía, Colectivo por la ciudadanía, autonomía y libertad de las mujeres AC [Equifonía, Collective for citizenship, autonomy and freedom of women AC] achieved that the Ministry of the Interior officially declared the Gender Violence Alert for Comparative Grievance against Women in Veracruz, which is issued when there is a regulatory framework or a public policy that violates women's rights.

This declaration makes it mandatory to ensure that throughout the state there are health centers that provide safe, timely, quality and free services for the legal termination of pregnancy on the grounds in force in the State Penal Code. In this framework, Equifonía also provided support in the first documented case of a legal abortion due to rape in Veracruz.

The organizations and groups that are supported by the Body program have developed strategies such as the following:

• Assessment studies to document the criminalization of abortion and violence against women
• Trainings in human rights and gender for public officials, health service providers, teachers, and lawyers
• Legal representation in search of truth, justice, and reparations for families of women who have been disappeared or been victims of femicide
• Presentation of advocacy strategies for influencing public policy in favor of women’s sexual and reproductive rights

Mexicali Resiste was a movement that emerged following the approval of a law by the local congress of Baja California, which allowed companies to exploit water resources. One of Mexicali Resiste’s core organizations is Colectivo Mujeres Tierra [Women Earth Collective], one of the groups that we support. After major mobilizations, in 2017 the activists achieved the repeal of the law. However, a project was already underway with the company Constellation Brands for the construction of a brewery that would use 22 million cubic meters of water per year, privileging the interests of a transnational corporation over the water rights of the inhabitants of the region located in a desert area.

“Mother Earth is not here to serve us; the fight for water is the struggle for life”, says Tania Gallaga, who in the picture suffers from a severe head injury at the hands of the police while opposing the construction of the aqueduct that would take water to Constellation Brands.

The pressure the protesters have exerted has caused the construction to stop, but now it is said that the company will be moved to Sonora. The members of Colectivo Mujeres Tierra affirm that they will not stop fighting: “Water is a shared natural asset; it goes beyond borders”.

One of the most important achievements within the Land program was the international meeting entitled “Gender, Lands and Territories: Sustainability in our Community Life”, which took place in Cuetzalan, Puebla, in December 2017. This gathering allowed for discussion among more than 70 activists, academics, and community organizations that fight for the defense of land and territory, both in Mexico and internationally in El Salvador and Nicaragua. One of the relevant topics they discussed was the way in which women relate to natural resources, particularly water, and how their care practices contribute to the creation of sustainable ways of life.