About 85,000 women and girls were purposefully killed in 2023, according to a new research by UN Women and the UNODC. Of them, 60%—more than 51,000—were slain by intimate partners or family members.
It indicates that one girl or woman is slain every ten minutes.
Africa is the continent with the greatest rates of femicide, according to a new report released on Monday, November 25, 2024, in observance of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.
The 16 Days of Activism campaign, which called on world leaders to end systemic violence against women and girls, was launched concurrently with the release of the report.
Intimate partner and family-related femicides were most common in Africa, followed by the Americas and Oceania, the research states. Intimate partners killed the majority of victims in Europe and the Americas, whereas family members were the main culprits in other areas.
According to UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous, violence against women and femicide can be avoided.
Violence against women and girls is preventable, not inevitable, according to Bahous, who also said that strong laws, better data collecting, enhanced government accountability, a zero-tolerance policy, and more money for institutional authorities and organizations that support women’s rights are all necessary.
Bahous said that as the world gets closer to the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action’s 30th anniversary in 2025, it is time for world leaders to come together, take swift action, renew their commitment, and allocate the funds required to put an end to the problem permanently.
In a same vein, Ghada Waly, Executive Director of UNODC, emphasized the significance of robust procedures to tackle the problem.
According to Waly, the recent femicide report emphasizes the critical need for strong criminal justice systems that hold offenders accountable while providing survivors with sufficient support, including secure and open channels for reporting crimes.
She added that they need to address and eliminate the damaging norms, power disparities, and gender biases that support violence against women.
With the hashtags #NoExcuse and #16Days, the 16 Days of Activism campaign has ignited a global social media movement with the goal of bringing attention to the issue and calling for action.
