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Border & Immigration

Mexico Collaborating With San Diego Domestic Violence Experts

Mexico Collaborating With San Diego Domestic Violence Experts
A new effort is underway to crackdown on violence against women south of the border.

Over the last decade, hundreds of women have gone missing along the border and many more have turned into victims of domestic violence.

Mexican authorities are now hoping to take a page from The San Diego Family Justice Center.

It has become the model for a dozen new centers targeting Mexican women who are victims of domestic violence.

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Casey Gwinn with San Diego's Family Justice Center said local advocates, attorneys and organizers will be working closely with Mexican authorities to build the centers from the ground up.

"I think the hope is that out of all the bad news happening in Mexico, about the violence, there are a lot of good people doing good things, over the next year they're going to open twelve of these center," Gwinn said.

The centers will protection, counseling, medical and legal services. In Mexico, 90 percent of all women murdered are killed by partners.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon has committed more than $1.5 million to set up 12 centers across the country.

One has already opened in the state of Chihuahua. Officials from Chihuahua's Attorney General's office are in San Diego this week to receive training, planning and technical assistance.

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Gwinn stressed the stark contrast in prosecuting domestic violence cases in Mexico versus the U.S.

"I was talking about early intervention how can we stop a man from doing anything serious, they were talking about women who have disappeared women whose bodies haven't been found for years. "