audio, stills, text and or video: Go to zReportage.com to see more - In the Mexican city of Juarez, thousands of young women have disappeared and hundreds have been found dead since 1993. This phenomenon has helped usher a new word into the lexicon: Femicide. This is described as the deliberate killing of women, because they are women. Sex trafficking and exploitation have been identified as the precursor to this insidious crime. The numbers have reached epidemic levels and the government whether culpable or incompetent has done very little to find a resolution for grieving families in a system that few trust. In recent years however, efforts have intensified at a grassroots level among local activists determined to raise awareness within the population, and give the next generation of young women a fighting chance. Their efforts have begun to turn the tide. Their battle cry is ''Ni Una Mas'' or ''Not One More.''
© Gabriel Romero/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press

Sept. 29, 2014 - Ciudad Juarez, Mexico - Ciudad Juarez is a Mexican border city that lies next to El Paso, Texas. Since 1993, thousands of young women have disappeared, and hundreds have been found dead in this turbulent city known for drug cartel violence.
© Gabriel Romero/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press

Nov. 2, 2014 - Ciudad Juarez, Mexico - Inside one of the many bars where prostitution is practiced openly. It is in places like this that many of the young women are last reportedly seen alive.
© Gabriel Romero/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press

Nov. 2, 2014 - Ciudad Juarez, Mexico - A prostitute sits outside one of the many seedy hotels where they ply their trade. These hotels are prevalent in the downtown area of the city and are one of the places that trafficked women end up.
© Gabriel Romero/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press

Nov. 4, 2014 - Ciudad Juarez, Mexico - The southern boundary of the city of Juarez, 'Lote Bravo' is where the first victims of femicide were found in the early 1990s.
© Gabriel Romero/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press

May 19, 2015 - Ciudad Juarez, Mexico - A woman places a poster in downtown Juarez for Maria Sagrario Gonzalez Flores who disappeared in 1998 at the age of 17. Posters such as these can be seen all over the city and speak to the prevalence of the abductions.
© Gabriel Romero/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press

Sept. 28, 2014 - Ciudad Juarez, Mexico - Downtown Juarez and a vandalized poster on a phone booth asking for information on the disappearance of Iliana Carillo, who went missing in 2014 at the age of 23.
© Gabriel Romero/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press

Nov. 4, 2014 - Ciudad Juarez, Mexico - Inside the family home of Brenda Berenice Castillo Garcia. She disappeared in 2008 at the age of 17. Her 'presumed' remains were discovered in an area known as the Juarez Valley in 2012. In this case as in many others, the government presents the families with questionable DNA evidence seeking to bring a quick resolution to the case.
© Gabriel Romero/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press

Sept. 26, 2014 - Ciudad Juarez, Mexico - In November 2001 the mutilated remains of eight young women were found in a place known as 'the cotton field.' A memorial has since been erected in its place. It's a large area dominated by crosses that bear the names of the missing and dead.
© Gabriel Romero/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press

Sept. 28, 2014 - Ciudad Juarez, Mexico - In Juarez, one is constantly reminded of the missing. The faces of the innocent confront the unaware eye, pleading from beyond for help.
© Gabriel Romero/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press

Sept. 26, 2014 - Ciudad Juarez, Mexico - Inside the cotton field monument, a bronze statue, 'Flor de Arena' was dedicated in 2012. Veronica Leiton sculpted this piece whose sash has the names of all of the known victims of femicide prior to 2012.
© Gabriel Romero/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press

Sept. 28, 2014 - Ciudad Juarez, Mexico - This cross, located at the base of the Santa Fe international bridge was erected in memory of the city's hundreds of serial-killing victims that have died since 1993. The attached sign reads 'Ni Una Mas' or 'Not One More.'
© Gabriel Romero/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press

May 23, 2015 - Ciudad Juarez, Mexico - Father EDUARDO HAYEN CUARON holds a vigil at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe for the parents of JANETH PAOLA SOTO BETANCOURT who disappeared in 2011 at the age of 19.
© Gabriel Romero/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press

Sept. 29, 2014 - Ciudad Juarez, Mexico - A heavily guarded, JORGE GONZALEZ NICOLAS, Chihuahua state attorney general addresses the media where he announced the creation of a new task force that will investigate crimes against women. The government maintains an appearance of vigilance on these crimes however; these statements are largely seen as duplicitous in a system that few trust.
© Gabriel Romero/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press

Nov. 2, 2014 - Ciudad Juarez, Mexico - JOSE LUIS CASTILLO is arguably the most vocal and controversial activist in the Juarez anti-femicide movement. He can be seen all over the city wearing a set of homemade banners with the image of his daughter Esmeralda Castillo Rincon. Esmeralda disappeared in 2009 at the age of 14, just before her quinceanera.
© Gabriel Romero/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press

May 19, 2015 - Ciudad Juarez, Mexico - With a little help from his friends and supporters, JOSE LUIS CASTILLO places a permanent plaque in downtown Juarez that commemorates the life of his daughter Esmeralda Castillo Rincon and pleads for information about her disappearance.
© Gabriel Romero/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press

May 18, 2015 - Ciudad Juarez, Mexico - A mural painted by Maclovio 'MAC' Macias to commemorate the lives of Esmeralda Castillo Rincon and Brenda Berenice Castillo Garcia. There is a concerted effort by local street artists to paint as many murals as possible due to the municipality's unwillingness to continue to let activists hang posters for the missing.
© Gabriel Romero/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press

May 22, 2015 - Ciudad Juarez, Mexico - ARTIST MACLOVIO ''MAC'' MACIAS shows off a new mural to Paula Flores Bonilla, the mother of Maria Sagrario Gonzalez Flores, who disappeared in 1998 at the age of 17.
© Gabriel Romero/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press

May 19, 2015 - Ciudad Juarez, Mexico - The paint stained hands of 'SEC,' a local Juarez graffiti artist after a long day of mural painting.
© Gabriel Romero/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press

Sept. 29, 2014 - Ciudad Juarez, Mexico - Maricela Escobedo Ortiz became an outspoken activist in the anti-femicide movement when her daughter was murdered in 2008. She fought the state for two years during an arrest, trial and ultimate acquittal of her daughter's killer, only to be murdered herself in 2010. Her story has come to exemplify the incompetence or culpability of the Chihuahua state government in the disappearances of so many.
© Gabriel Romero/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press

Sept. 24, 2014 - Undisclosed location, U.S. - MARICELA ORTIZ RIVERA has been one of the most vocal activists in the anti-femicide movement. She founded Nuestras Hijas de Regreso a Casa or 'Our Daughters Return Home' a non-governmental organization whose goal is to prevent the murders of women in Juarez. Unfortunately, she has paid a heavy price for her activism. In 2009 her son-in-law was murdered, followed by her brother in 2013. She has since fled Mexico and sought asylum in the United States.
© Gabriel Romero/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press

May 23, 2015 - Ciudad Juarez, Mexico - During a thanksgiving mass, Father EDUARDO HAYEN CUARON blesses a young woman on the day of her quinceanera, which is a celebration of her 15th birthday. This is a significant moment in the life of a young Mexican woman. Unfortunately, many of the young women that are victims of trafficking and femicide never get to experience their quinceaneras as so many of them have disappeared before the age of 15.
© Gabriel Romero/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press