Thank you and good morning. I want to welcome all the members of this distinguished presidium, especially Carmen, Juana and all the women who are being recognized here today for having dared to speak out and tell their stories, which reflect their challenges but are also stories of hope and work and the struggle of millions of women in Mexico and around the world.

 

I want to thank and congratulate INMUJERES for this initiative, which has given us a better understanding of the problems of migrant women, because it allows us to be part of the effort to bring to light this reality that concerns all of us and to which we should all be committed.

 

The video we saw is just an example of the 300, the more than 300, contributions from women in different parts of the country who participated and that bring us all together in solidarity and make us all think and reflect on how much remains to be done and how much we should all do.

 

Within the federal government—as my colleagues have already said—President Peña Nieto is committed, very deeply committed, to having all of us who work with him do our part to change this reality little by little, so that—as Carmen said in her video—when she took the very brave decision to leave behind all she knew, her surroundings, her home, to leave behind her friends to make a different destiny far from where she lived, she found help from friends, from neighbors, from social organizations.

 

And today, we in the government must build the institutions that make it possible for every woman facing a violent situation, a desperate situation or one of abuse, to find an answer, to find help, to find paths to empowerment, ways to get ahead and to find justice.

 

But that is not achieved solely through the work of an institution; is not achieved through the work of the government or of any one government by itself. It is achieved through everyone’s work, through a common vision and with the joint commitment of all federal institutions and agencies as a whole and in cooperation with state and municipal governments. Above all, it is achieved by working with the private sector, with civil society, and encouraging every Mexican to make this reality and this commitment their own.

 

Just as my colleagues did, I salute all of you brave women who have raised your voices and are building a different Mexico for yourselves and for our children.

 

Mexico is a country that today, in the age of migration, is a country in which not only do we see how, every day, millions of Mexicans leave to live in another country, especially the United States—but also how Mexican women, especially, also leave their communities to live somewhere else in Mexico, and how our country is also a country of transit where millions of men, women and children cross our territory each year trying to reach the United States.

 

We are also a country where people from other neighboring countries come to settle, they migrate here, and we are a country where every year we receive more and more Mexicans who return after having emigrated to the United States and other countries.

 

This reality makes us different, a unique country. It has made those of us in the federal government work with the same sensitivity and commitment that President Peña Nieto has, that each of us who work with him has, and all of the women and men who work here in the Foreign Ministry, to create programs to address and help, protect and serve and be close to the needs, problems and requirements of the Mexican women and men, our sisters and brothers in other countries who have chosen for various reasons—necessity, insecurity, economic circumstances, violence, or who are simply motivated by the desire to leave in search of more favorable environments for  achieving their dreams—to make migration a reality.

 

In Mexico, we have worked hard to ensure that the attention, protection, service and support we provide abroad through our consulates or here, through various institutions—such as the ones represented here by some of our colleagues from the federal government who have shared their experiences with us today—is attention, protection and service that always acknowledges that each migrant, each woman and, especially, each child and adolescent, is an individual with human rights that must be protected, that must be safeguarded and that must be accessible to all at all times.

 

These are people who deserve and should demand that their dignity be respected by all of us, and we have made progress in creating these programs and institutions. We have sought to create new ways to provide help, support and attention.

 

For example, through our consular network, we give birth certificates to all Mexicans who are abroad and do not have their papers with them and need to provide proof of where they were born. Last year, for example, we issued more than 90,000 birth certificates to Mexicans abroad who didn’t have to come to Mexico for this important document.

 

We gave more than 12,000 scholarships to Mexicans so they could study abroad, and helped hundreds of times to repatriate the bodies of our compatriots who died abroad.

 

Every year we provide legal assistance and support to thousands of Mexicans living in the United States for job-related issues or family law, criminal law, etc., seeking to ensure that they know and feel that they have not been forgotten by the Mexican government and their fellow Mexicans; that we are here to help them, no matter where they are.

 

I am glad that, with this initiative, INMUJERES has helped us make this reality that we cannot ignore, this reality that all of you have showed us with such sensitivity and invited us to share, a central part of our day and our responsibility, with solidarity as Mexicans.

 

And, in addition to congratulating the award winners today, who were recognized for their excellent display of sensitivity, I also want to tell you that today I am delivering to one of our winners who received second place in the video category, Amalia Manuel Pedro, her identity and travel document that she requested along with some others, under the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and Stateless Persons. Congratulations, Amalia.

 

With this identity and travel document, Amalia will be able to apply for her Mexican nationality through naturalization and we will be happy to help you, Amalia, and anyone who asks, not only Mexicans at heart but also Mexicans by law.

 

Mexico is your country, it is our country, and it will always protect you. Congratulations to the winners and to those who were recognized for their excellent work.

 

Thank you