Add StudioX as a preferred source on GoogleA Mexican investigative journalist who documented sexual violence inside the country’s armed forces has won a major human rights journalism prize, and says she has faced threats for her work. Zorayda Gallegos spoke to UN News ahead of the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists on Monday. The information in this article comes from that UN News report.
A report on impunity in the barracks
Ms. Gallegos received the 2026 Breach/Valdez Award for Journalism and Human Rights. Her report, titled Sexual violence in the barracks: an X-ray of impunity, tracked more than 520 women who reported sexual offences over a 12-year period.
Only three per cent of those cases ended in a conviction. The other 97 per cent led to no effective sanctions.
Ms. Gallegos says the problem is structural rather than isolated. It extends into military schools and hospitals. She also documented how high-ranking officials cover up abuse, and how gender inequality and institutional obstacles discourage victims from filing complaints.
Obedience, sexism and a lack of accountability
According to Ms. Gallegos, military training is a key part of the problem. In an institution where orders from superiors are meant to be followed without question, she says, that can extend to an officer ordering a woman into his bedroom. Refusing could be treated as disobeying a superior.
She maintains that deep-rooted sexism also shapes who gets which jobs and who is promoted. Female soldiers are often given tasks linked to caregiving and nursing, even when they are qualified for higher-ranking roles.
Women who take their cases to court risk being victimised again, she found. Some judicial rulings contain sexist remarks or lack any gender perspective. Within the institution, she says, psychological support for complainants is aimed at getting them to forgive their aggressors, forget what happened and continue their military careers.
Ms. Gallegos alleges that the accused men are often given recommendations rather than punishments. In her words, “that’s the maximum.”
To break the cycle, she believes more women are needed in senior military leadership and decision-making roles, as well as in the judiciary and prosecution services.
Reporting at personal risk
The work has come at a cost. Ms. Gallegos has faced intimidating remarks, veiled threats and pressure. She continues to defend the right to publish information in the public interest and to report independently and impartially.
Mexico is regularly highlighted by UNESCO as one of the deadliest countries in the world for the press, even though it is not officially at war. Collusion between organized crime and local authorities is a serious threat to reporters, and its effects are felt at every level of the justice system. Journalists investigating politics or crime face threats, kidnapping, enforced disappearance and murder, and many are forced to flee abroad.
UNESCO, which tallies threats to media workers worldwide, says 154 journalists have been murdered in Mexico in the past 20 years. The agency has confirmed eight killings so far in 2026. Press freedom groups including Article 19 and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) put the 2026 toll at nine, after the killing of Hamurabi Huesca Manzano in Oaxaca on 9 October.
The award Ms. Gallegos won carries the names of two journalists who were killed, Miroslava Breach and Javier Valdez, who were assassinated because of their work. She said they stood for brave journalism rooted in their communities and committed to telling uncomfortable truths, and that their deaths should never have happened.
Source: UN News
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