By Caroline Mwanga
NEW YORK | VIENNA | 27 November 2024 (IDN) — The International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women on 25 November was commemorated the brutal assassination of the Mirabal sisters in the Dominican Republic on 25 November 1960, whose activism and sacrifice galvanized global attention towards efforts to end violence inflicted upon women and girls due to their gender.
“More than two decades later, and despite the efforts of women’s rights movements to demand justice and accountability, as well as some notable progress in preventing and responding to violence against women and girls, significant challenges persist in fully addressing the issue,” write United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Executive Director Ghada Waly and UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous in preface to the report Femicides in 2023: Global Estimates of Intimate Partner/Family Member Femicides.
It is indeed alarming that the number of killings by family members and intimate partners—the most common manifestation of femicide—remains at staggering levels globally. Some 51,100 women and girls were killed at home by people closely related to them in 2023, accounting for 60 per cent of all female homicides. In too many cases, victims of femicide had previously reported violence and their killings could have been prevented.
The report reveals a highly worrying trend indicating that attention to the problem of femicide may have waned in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since 2020, the number of countries reporting or publishing data on the killing of women by intimate partners or other family members has decreased by 50 per cent. Yet, more and better data are needed for a deeper understanding of the issue and its magnitude, and in order to develop and implement more effective prevention and response strategies. The UNODC-UN Women Statistical framework for measuring gender-related killings provides detailed guidance for producing comprehensive data on femicide.
With the clock ticking towards 2030, the target date for the Sustainable Development Goals, and as the global community approaches the 30th anniversary review of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the international community needs to accelerate progress towards gender equality and eradicating violence against women and girls.
Key findings of the report are:
Globally, approximately 51,100 women and girls were killed by their intimate partners or other family members during 2023. Higher than the 2022 estimate of 48,800 victims, this change is not indicative of an actual increase as it is largely due to differences in data availability at the country level. The 2023 figure means that 60 per cent of the almost 85,000 women and girls killed intentionally during the year were murdered by their intimate partners or other family members. In other words, an average of 140 women and girls worldwide lost their lives every day at the hands of their partner or a close relative.
Women and girls everywhere continue to be affected by this extreme form of gender-based violence and no region is excluded. With an estimated 21,700 victims of intimate partner/family member femicide in 2023, Africa is the region with the highest number of victims in aggregate terms. Moreover, Africa continues to account for the highest number of victims of intimate partner/family member femicide relative to the size of its population (2.9 victims per 100,000 in 2023). The Americas and Oceania also recorded high rates of intimate partner/family member femicide in 2023, at 1.6 and 1.5 per 100,000 respectively, while the rates were significantly lower in Asia and Europe, at 0.8 and 0.6 per 100,000 respectively.
Beyond the killing of women and girls by intimate partners or other family members, other forms of femicide exist. In recent years, some countries have begun to quantify other forms of femicide by implementing the UNODC-UN Women Statistical framework for measuring gender-related killings. In France, for example, during the period 2019–2022, 79 per cent of all female homicides were committed by intimate partners or other family members, while other forms of femicide accounted for an additional 5 per cent of all female homicides. Similarly, exploratory research in South Africa indicates that femicides outside the domestic sphere accounted for 9 per cent of total female homicides in 2020–2021.
Due to a lack of sufficient data in other regions, time trends in intimate partner/family member femicide can only be monitored in the Americas and Europe at present. In the former, the rate of intimate partner/family member femicide has remained relatively stable since 2010, while it decreased slowly in Europe (-20 per cent) between 2010 and 2023, as a result of slowly declining trends in countries in Northern, Eastern and Southern Europe.
The intentional killing of women in the private sphere in Europe and in the Americas is largely committed by intimate partners. Out of all women killed by intimate partners or other family members in those two regions in 2023, 64 per cent were murdered by their intimate partners in Europe and 58 per cent in the Americas. In the rest of the world (based on available data), however, women and girls are more likely to be killed by family members (59 per cent) than by their intimate partners (41 per cent). This emphasizes the need to ensure that the prevention of domestic violence addresses intimate relationships as well as family contexts where women are at higher risk.
Available data for three countries—France (2019–2022), South Africa (2020–2021) and Colombia (2014– 2017) —confirm that a significant share of women killed by their intimate partners (between 22 and 37 per cent) had previously reported some form of physical, sexual or psychological violence by their partner. This suggests that many killings of women are preventable. Restraining orders on male partners that prohibit further contact between them and the victims of their violence are among the measures that could prevent the killing of women.
Violence against women and girls is not inevitable
Over the past two decades, the number of countries reporting data on the killing of women and girls by intimate partners or other family members increased slowly. The number peaked in 2020 at 75 countries, but subsequently decreased and by 2023 was half the number in 2020. Furthermore, at present only a few countries are able to produce data on forms of femicide committed outside the domestic sphere in compliance with the UNODC-UN Women Statistical framework for measuring gender-related killings. Member States have increasingly adopted measures to address femicide in recent years, but the accountability of countries’ efforts to fight gender-related killings is also measured by the quality and availability of their statistics on femicide. Significant efforts to reverse the negative trend in terms of data availability would thus increase government accountability for addressing violence against women.
“Violence against women and girls is not inevitable—it is preventable. We need robust legislation, improved data collection, greater government accountability, a zero-tolerance culture, and increased funding for women’s rights organizations and institutional bodies. As we approach the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in 2025, it is time for world leaders to UNiTE and act with urgency, recommit, and channel the resources needed to end this crisis once and for all”, highlighted UN Women Executive Director, Sima Bahous.
“The new femicide report highlights the urgent need for strong criminal justice systems that hold perpetrators accountable, while ensuring adequate support for survivors, including access to safe and transparent reporting mechanisms,” said of UNODC Executive Director Ghada Waly.
“At the same time, we must confront and dismantle the gender biases, power imbalances, and harmful norms that perpetuate violence against women. As this year’s 16 Days of Activism Campaign begins, we must act now to protect women’s lives.”
Through the 16 Days of Activism campaign, UN Women is calling to revitalize commitments, call for accountability and action from decision-makers. A global social media campaign to speak up against gender-based violence has been launched using #NoExcuse and #16Days. [IDN-InDepthNews]
Image credit: UN Women
