The deadliest place for women is at home, and 140 women and girls on average were killed by an intimate partner or family member per day last year, two UN agencies reported yesterday.
Globally, an intimate partner or family member was responsible for the deaths of approximately 51,100 women and girls last year, an increase from an estimated 48,800 victims in 2022, UN Women and the UN Office of Drugs and Crime said.
The report released on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women said the increase was largely the result of more data being available from countries and not more killings.
Photo: AFP
However, the two agencies stressed that “Women and girls everywhere continue to be affected by this extreme form of gender-based violence and no region is excluded.”
“The home is the most dangerous place for women and girls,” they added.
The highest number of intimate partner and family killings was in Africa — with an estimated 21,700 victims last year, the report said.
Africa also had the highest number of victims relative to the size of its population — 2.9 victims per 100,000 people.
There were also high rates last year in the Americas, with 1.6 female victims per 100,000 and in Oceania with 1.5 per 100,000, it said.
Rates were significantly lower in Asia at 0.8 victims per 100,000 and Europe at 0.6 per 100,000.
The intentional killing of women in the private sphere in Europe and the Americas is largely by intimate partners, the report said.
By contrast, the vast majority of male homicides take place outside homes and families, it said.
“Even though men and boys account for the vast majority of homicide victims, women and girls continue to be disproportionately affected by lethal violence in the private sphere,” the report said.
“An estimated 80% of all homicide victims in 2023 were men while 20% were women, but lethal violence within the family takes a much higher toll on women than men, with almost 60% of all women who were intentionally killed in 2023 being victims of intimate partner/family member homicide,” it said.
Despite efforts to prevent the killing of women and girls by countries, their killings “remain at alarmingly high levels,” the report said.
“They are often the culmination of repeated episodes of gender-based violence, which means they are preventable through timely and effective interventions,” the two agencies said.
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