Document #1059430
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Author)
For information on the requirements for
taking children outside Mexico by one parent, please consult
Response to Information Request MEX24736.E of 28 August 1996, and
for information on the passport issuing requirements for children,
please refer to MEX25130.E of 23 September 1996. For information
related to spousal abuse and domestic violence, please refer to
Responses to Information Requests MEX25619.E of 29 November 1996
and MEX13200 of 23 February 1993 and their attachments.
Additional references to spousal or
domestic abuse can be found in the attached section of Human
Rights in Developing Countries Yearbook 1996, and in
Country Reports 1996, which is available at your Regional
Documentation Centre. Also attached please find two San Antonio
Express-News reports; one of them refers to a divorce case
involving a couple that had residences in both the United States
and Mexico (7 Apr. 1996), while the other refers to cases of
spousal and domestic abuse (6 July 1996).
Other articles attached to this response
contain references to domestic violence and divorce, and are
included for your reference.
Regarding divorce law and practice in
Mexico, representatives at the Embassy of Mexico in Ottawa
explained during 18 and 21 August 1997 telephone interviews that
although there is some federal legislation pertaining to divorce,
each state of Mexico has different legislation.
A legal information Internet web site of
the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) indicates that
legislation pertaining to divorce in different states of Mexico
ranges from state constitutions to codes, laws and decrees, and
that a single ground for divorce can be the subject of legal theses
(19 Aug. 1997).
By way of example, a representative at the
consular office at the Embassy of Mexico in Ottawa provided a copy
in Spanish of legislation related to divorce from the Civil Code of
the Federal District of Mexico (21 Aug. 1997) (copy of the document
is not attached but available from the DIRB upon specific request).
It can be noted that the code's tenth chapter, dedicated to the
question of divorce, has 26 articles, one of which lists 18
different behaviours or conditions that constitute legal grounds
for divorce, and others that refer to other articles of the code or
legislation that might be pertinent to a case (ibid.). The consular
office representative indicated that divorce legislation in other
states of Mexico have varying degrees of similarity, but may also
have significant differences (ibid.).
This Response was prepared after
researching publicly accessible information currently available to
the DIRB within time constraints. This Response is not, and does
not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular
claim to refugee status or asylum.
References
Embassy of Mexico, Ottawa. 21 August
1997. Telephone interview with consular office representative.
_____. 21 August 1997. Fax received by
DIRB.
_____. 18 August 1997. Telephone
interview with representative.
Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico
(UNAM), Mexico City. InfoJus WWW. [Internet]
Attachments
Austin American-Statesman. 3
September 1995. Nancy Nusser. "Violence Against Women is Rising in
Mexico." (Mexico NewsPak [Austin, Tex.] 28 Aug.-10 Sept.
1995, Vol. 3, No. 16, p. 6)
Houston Chronicle. 21 July
1993. Andres Oppenheimer. "Women Find Voice in Macho Mexico."
(Mexico NewsPak [Austin, Tex.] 2-15 Aug. 1993, Vol. 1, No.
14, pp. 10-11)
Human Rights in Developing Countries
Yearbook 1996. 1996. Edited by Peter Baehr et al. Oslo: Nordic
Human Rights Publications, pp. 355-56.
Inter Press Service (IPS). 14 January
1996. Eduardo Molina y Vedia. "Alcohol Is Factor in the Breakup of
Many Couples." (Mexico NewsPak [Austin, Tex.] 15-28 Jan.
1996, Vol. 3, No. 26, pp. 8-9)
_____. 24 October 1993. Ruben Torres
Jimenez. "Women, Victims of Violence at Home." (Mexico
NewsPak [Austin, Tex.] 25 Oct.-7 Nov. 1993, Vol. 1, No. 20, p.
10)
La Jornada [Mexico City]. 27
October 1996. Ricardo Olayo. "New Proposal Would Consider Domestic
Violence as Criminal Conduct." (Mexico NewsPak [Austin,
Tex.] 21 Oct.-3 Nov. 1996, Vol. 4, No. 19, p. 9)
_____. 7 February 1993. "Many Sexual
Abuses Within the Family Reported." (Mexico NewsPak
[Austin, Tex.] 1-14 Feb. 1993, Vol. 1, No. 1, p. 6)
Los Angeles Times. 29 June
1993. Juanita Darling. "Activism Rooted in Mexico's Culture."
(Mexico NewsPak [Austin, Tex.] 5-18 July 1993, Vol. 1, No.
12, pp. 11-12)
San Antonio Express-News. 6
July 1996. Lesley Salas. "Aid to Battered Women Draws Attention
South of the Border." (Global NewsBank)
_____. 7 April 1996. Maria F. Durand.
"Woman's Plight Shows Failing in Mexico, U.S. Law." (Global
NewsBank).