Background checks for staff at women's institutes are state responsibility, Mexico's Secretariat of Women says

Mexico's Secretariat of Women has stated that the responsibility for vetting personnel who work in local women's institutes and attend to individuals experiencing violence lies with the individual states.

The Secretariat argued that hiring processes, which include background checks for criminal records or gender-based violence, are the exclusive responsibility of each state. "The Institutes of Women in the Federative Entities are units of the state public administration, attached to local governments, so the hiring of their personnel is their exclusive responsibility," the Secretariat said in a letter to the newspaper El Universal.

This clarification comes after El Universal reported that an audit found the federal agency lacked filters to verify past violence by personnel in these institutes. The Secretariat also noted that its own hiring processes include document review mechanisms, such as checking national registries for alimony obligations and sanctioned individuals in political violence against women, among others.

Despite the federal Secretariat emphasizing state responsibility, the audit body that conducted the review issued a formal recommendation to the Secretariat of Women. This recommendation is based on federal laws that establish the Secretariat's responsibility to design, propose, implement, monitor, and evaluate programs aimed at protecting women's rights, including ensuring federal resources include follow-up mechanisms and that the federation coordinates with states to eradicate violence against women.