The most dangerous place for women is the home, according to a new UN study.
A total of 87,000 women were intentionally killed in 2017. More than half of them (58 percent) were killed by intimate partners or family members, meaning that 137 women across the world are killed by a member of their own family every day. More than a third (30,000) of the women intentionally killed in 2017 were killed by their current or former intimate partner, someone they would normally expect to trust.
The study says that the estimated number of women killed by intimate partners or family members in 2012 was 48,000 (47 percent of all female homicide victims). The annual number of female deaths worldwide resulting from intimate partner/family-related homicide therefore seems be on the increase, it said.
The largest number (20,000) of all women killed worldwide by intimate partners or family members in 2017 was in Asia, followed by Africa (19,000), the Americas (8,000) Europe (3,000) and Oceania (300). However, the study said, with an intimate partner/family-related homicide rate of 3.1 per 100,000 female population, Africa is the region where women run the greatest risk of being killed by the intimate partner or family members,while Europe (0.7 per 100,000 population) is the region where the risk is lowest. The intimate partner/family-related homicide rate was also high in the Americas in 2017, at 1.6 per 100,000 female population, as well as Oceania, at 1.3, and Asia, at 0.9.
Even though the largest number of women and girls are killed by intimate partners or family members in Asia, the study said they run the greatest risk of being killed by an intimate partner or family member in Africa. The regions with the largest number of females killed purely by intimate partners (not including other family members) in 2107 were Asia and Africa (11,000 each), followed by the Americas (6,000), Europe (2,000) and Oceania (200).
The studay said, "Countries have taken action to address violence against women and gender-related killings in different ways, by adopting legal changes, early interventions and multi-agency efforts, as well as creating special units and implementing training in the criminal justice system.
Countries in Latin America have adopted legislation that criminalizes femicide as a specific offense in their penal codes. Yet there are no signs of a
decrease in the number of gender-related killings of women and girls. This study highlights what more can be done to prevent those killings. A more comprehensive range of coordinated services needs to be provided by police, criminal justice systems, health and social services. Moreover, in order to prevent and tackle gender-related killing of women and girls, men need to beinvolved in efforts to combat intimate partner violence/family-related homicide and in changing cultural norms that move away from violent masculinity and gender stereotypes.
