A/HRC/20/16 declared natural or accidental by the police).108 Between 2000 and 2008, 153 cases of murders of women and girls were reported, and in 115 of these cases, the bodies are still missing.109 Aboriginal women and girls are more likely to be killed by a stranger than are non-aboriginal women. Approximately 50 per cent of such murders remain unsolved.110 The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has expressed its concern that ―hundreds of cases involving aboriginal women who have gone missing or been murdered in the past two decades have neither been fully investigated nor attracted priority attention, with the perpetrators remaining unpunished‖.111 7. Extreme forms of violent killings of women 66. The growing sociopolitical phenomena of gangs, organized crime, drug dealers, human and drug trafficking chains, massive migration and the proliferation of small arms have had a devastating impact on women‘s lives, particularly in Mexico and Central America. The northern triangle of Central America has the highest rates of homicide in a non-conflict context.112 The rate of killings of men has been stable during the last decade, but there has been an increase in the rates of killings of women. 113 In 2004 in Guatemala, murders of women increased 141 per cent, as opposed to 68 per cent for men; in El Salvador in 2006 murders of women increased 111 per cent, compared to 40 per cent for men; and in Honduras in 2007 murders of women increased 166 per cent, compared to 40 per cent for men. 67. As regards Mexico, in 1993 reports began to appear in the international media of the discovery of the mutilated bodies of raped and murdered women on wastelands outside the city of Ciudad Juárez.114 Data collection on femicides has indicated an escalation in the numbers of killings, with one author estimating that approximately 740 femicides occurred between 1993 and 2009 in Ciudad Juárez.115 The patterns of killings include abduction and disappearances for a few days; torture and sexual assault by groups of men; murder and mutilation, particularly of the sexual organs and breasts; decapitation in some cases; and the naked bodies/body parts being left on public display or dumped in empty wastelands of the city. In the worst cases, parts of the bodies are scattered through different areas of the city with messages written on the bodies or on paper found on the bodies. It is argued that the 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 Native Women‘s Association of Canada, What Their Stories Tell Us: Research findings from the Sisters in Spirit initiative, 2010, at 18, available at: http://www.nwac.ca/sites/default/files/imce/2010_NWAC_SIS_Report_EN.pdf. Since the publication of the 2010 report, more missing and murdered aboriginal women and girls have been added to the SIS database and the number is now over 600. Native Women‘s Association of Canada, Voices of Our Sisters In Spirit: A Report to Families and Communities, 2nd Edition, March 2009 at 96, available at: www.nwac.ca/sites/default/files/ download/admin/NWAC_VoicesofOurSistersInSpiritII_March2009FINAL.pdf Ibid. CEDAW Committee, Concluding observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women: Canada, U.N. Doc. CEDAW/C/CAN/CO/7, (2008) at para. 31. UNDP (2009) ―Abrir espacios para la seguridad ciudadana y el desarrollo humano‖ Informe sobre Desarrollo Humano para América Central. IDHAC, 2009-2010. Colombia. UNDP. Supra Note 16. Prieto-Carron, M., Thomson, M. and M. Macdonald (2007) ―No more killings! Women respond to femicides in Central America”, Gender and Development, volume 15:1, Routledge Publishing. Monárrez, J. (2009) ―Trama de una injusticia. Feminicidio sexual sistémico en Ciudad Juárez‖, El Colegio de la Frontera Norte, Mexico. 17