Women at Mexican shelter forced to work as prostitutes

Summary of story from Fox News, October 19, 2011

Nine women from Ciudad Juarez in northern Mexico have been rescued by police from a shelter for victims of violence, after it was found that they were being forced to work as prostitutes.

It is alleged that several children at the shelter were also forced into prostitution.

The shelter director, Soledad Griensen, aged 53, has been arrested.

Ciudad Juarez has been considered Mexico’s “murder capital” since the early 1990s when young women in the area started to disappear.

Over 500 women have been killed in Ciudad Juarez since 1993, according to the National Human Rights Commission.  Most cases have remained unsolved.  Around 9,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence over the past four years.

A conference to discuss ways in which to improve the city’s image began October 13 and runs until the end of the month.  It has attracted such speakers as former New York Mayor, Rudy Giuliani and Mexican astronaut Rodolfo Neri Vela.