Rights Groups Decry Mexico Rape Law

MEXICO CITY — Women’s rights groups Tuesday protested the approval of a law in the northern border state of Chihuahua that provides for reduced sentences for rapes considered to have been “provoked” by the victim.

“Every rapist will now try to prove that he was somehow provoked into committing rape,” said Irma Campos, one of about 20 activists who denounced the criminal code revisions at a news conference.

The activists called on state legislators to reverse the law on the grounds that it violates constitutional guarantees of equal rights for women.

The new law provides lower jail terms for rape overall and sentencing reductions if the victim is deemed to have been a prostitute or to have dressed seductively. The changes took effect last week.

The revisions also state that women can bring sexual harassment charges only against men who are their bosses or supervisors.

Chihuahua state officials had already faced criticism for downplaying a string of nearly 50 rape-murders of young women in the border city of Ciudad Juarez, claiming that the city’s murder rate was within a normal range.