Salvation for the Women of El Salvador: Recognizing a Violation of International Human Rights for the Sake of Ending Femicide
On February 12, 2018, Graciela Eugenia Ramírez Chávez went out to buy a pair of shoes for what should have been the happiest day of her life: her wedding day. However, on February 13, 2018, Graciela’s life came to a tragic end when her body was discovered in a garden in a suburb of San Salvador, El Salvador. Graciela suffered fifty-six stab wounds at the hands of her fiancée, José Héctor Otero Turcios. Turcios was arrested and charged with the crime of femicide for Graciela’s brutal murder. Graciela’s fate and story of femicide is all too common in El Salvador, which is considered one of the most dangerous countries in the world for women and girls. El Salvador has enacted legislation in an attempt to address the problem of femicide, and has even declared a national alert for gender-based violence, but statistics of this hate crime continue to rise. This Note suggests that international law should play an active role in ending the femicide epidemic in El Salvador and analyzes the problem of femicide in El Salvador under the predominant “due diligence” standard of international law.
Recommended Citation: Katherine Mobilia, Salvation for the Women of El Salvador: Recognizing a Violation of International Human Rights for the Sake of Ending Femicide, 43 Fordham Int'l L.J. 1329 (2020).