38 accompanied by a change in traditionally patriarchal attitudes and mentalities, and thus the stereotyped view of men’s and women’s social roles has been perpetuated.” 130. Other factors mentioned by the State as generators of violence and marginalization, are the absence of basic public services in the underprivileged areas; and drug-trafficking, arms trafficking, crime, money-laundering and people trafficking, which take place in Ciudad Juárez because it is a border city; the consumption of drugs, the high rate of school desertion, and the presence of “numerous sexual predators” and “military officials […] who have participated in armed conflicts,” in the neighboring city of El Paso. 131. According to the evidence forwarded by the State, the motive for 31.4% of the murders of women that took place between 1993 and 2005 was social violence (which includes revenge, street fights, imprudence, gang activities and robbery), 28% were due to domestic violence, 20.6% were based on sexual motives and in 20.1% of the cases the causes were unknown.113 It is worth noting that there are inconsistencies in the figures provided by the State. For example, in its response to the 2003 CEDAW report, the State indicated that 66% of the murders were the result of domestic and common violence, the motives for 8% were unknown, and the remaining 26% were acts of sexual violence.114 132. The Court notes that, despite the State’s denial that there is any kind of pattern in the motives for the murders of women in Ciudad Juárez, it told CEDAW that “they are all influenced by a culture of discrimination against women based on the erroneous idea that women are inferior.”115 Mexico’s observations in its reply to CEDAW with regard to the specific actions taken to improve the situation of subordination of women in Mexico and in Ciudad Juárez should also be noted: [I]t must be acknowledged that a culture deeply rooted in stereotypes, based on the underlying assumption that women are inferior, cannot be changed overnight. Changing cultural patterns is a difficult task for any government, even more so when the emerging problems of modern society — alcoholism, drug addiction and trafficking, gang crime, sex tourism, etc. — serve to exacerbate the discrimination suffered by various sectors of society, in particular those that are already disadvantaged, such as women, children and indigenous peoples.116 133. Various reports agree that, although there are different motives for the murders in Ciudad Juárez and different perpetrators, many cases relate to gender violence that occurs in a context of systematic discrimination against women.117 According to Amnesty International, the characteristics shared by many of the cases reveal that the victim’s gender appears to have been a significant factor in the crime, “influencing both the motive and the context of the crime, and also the type of violence to which the women were subjected.”118 The report of the IACHR Rapporteur indicates that the 113 Cf. Office of the Special Prosecutor for the Investigation of Crimes related to the Murders of Women in Ciudad Juárez, Informe Final, supra note 87, folio 14549. 114 In its reply to the CEDAW Report, the State explained that the context of violence against women that many of the murders were part of, together with public opinion’s strongly held views about the possible causes, “makes it extremely difficult to classify them on the basis of motive”; however, it was possible to classify them “in light of the data available concerning the perpetrators, witnesses and circumstances under which the murders took place” (Report on Mexico produced by CEDAW, supra note 64, folio 1957). 115 Report on Mexico produced by CEDAW, supra note 64, folio 1957. 116 Report on Mexico produced by CEDAW, supra note 64, folio 1960. 117 Cf. IACHR, The Situation of the Rights of Women in Ciudad Juárez, supra note 64, folio 1735; Report on Mexico produced by CEDAW, supra note 64, folio 1922; Report of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, supra note 64, folios 2001 to 2002, and Amnesty International, Intolerable killings, supra note 64, folios 2259 and 2269. 118 Amnesty International, Intolerable killings, supra note 64, folio 2269.