Omega Phi Beta held a screening of the documentary, On the Edge: The Femicide in Cuidad Juarez based on the “brutal murders of 400 poor young women in the border town of Cuidad Juarez, Mexico.” The film, directed by Steev Hise, sets out to explore the social, cultural, and economic factors that have created a situation in which killings continue—and go unpunished.

According to the first section of the film, “Violence of Poverty,” from 1993 to 2002, there was an average of 202 homicides per year in Juarez, of which 17% were women. Sixty percent of Mexican workers live below the poverty line, which is defined in Mexico as less than $1.90 a day. This increasing level of poverty thus gives rise to the violence.

The film’s second section, “Negligence,” shows the negligence of the government and the law enforcing bodies towards the killings and their failure to prevent them; the third part, “Torture,” reveals that the police arrests innocent men from the victim’s family and tortures them brutally to make them confess a crime they didn’t even committed.

The fourth section, titled “Corruption,” reveals that many of the killers and rapists are drug traffickers who bribe police and also have connections with higher authorities, while “Migration” deals with the migration and employment issues.

The sixth and final section, “Transportation,” depicts the lack of a proper transportation system in Juarez. Women have to walk all the way from their homes to their workplace, sometimes late at night, which makes them easy to be kidnapped.

So far, it is unclear whether the Obama administration is doing much to stop this issue.

“In 2006, the summer after the film was finished, the U.S House of Representatives passed the resolution House Resolution 466 (HR 466),” said Melanie Flores, the Social Chair of Omega Phi Beta. “HR 466 basically recognizes situation in Juarez and urged the Mexican government to do more, but it was non-binding and non-legislative.” Flores realized this was an imperative issue that still needs to be addressed and took initiative to educate students on the horrors that Mexican women are exposed to.

“The screenings like this are rare on campus,” said Flores. “This documentary revolves around the killings of women in city of Juarez [and how] the government isn’t paying any attention to the issue. Women are marching on the streets twice a year, [but] there hasn’t been any investigation—they’re just letting them disappear. So I personally think it’s very important to raise the issue to raise awareness.”

According to the Frontera Norte Sur News, the number of known deaths as a result of femicide (the killings of women) in Juarez and Chihuaha City has continued to rise. Though the figure is still approximate and contested by various authorities, media reports indicate that it grew to over 800 between the years 1993 and 2009.

Policy solutions include renegotiating of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), enforcing corporate responsibility, decriminalizing drugs, passing a women’s rights bill, bringing this issue to the Congressional representative of the each state (as well making sure that the women’s rights violation becomes a fundamental subject of their agenda), educating the community, and supporting HR 466 and the Senate Resolution 392.