More than half of female homicide victims worldwide – 137 every day – were killed by a member of their own family last year, according to a new United Nations study.
Across the globe, women are more frequently killed by people they know, according to a report released Sunday by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
About six women every hour are killed by family and intimate partners, said the report obtained by Per Second News.
Of the 87,000 women intentionally killed last year, about 50,000 or about 58 percent, were killed by family members or someone with whom they had an intimate relationship, the report said.
Though most of the women killed last year were from Asia, women in Africa were more likely to be killed – at a rate of 3.1 out of 100,000, as compared to about 1.6 per 100,000 women in the Americas.
The campaign brought thousands of people to the streets of nations around the globe to raise awareness of gender-based violence.
Yury Fedotov, the UNODC’s executive director, noted that although the majority of worldwide homicide victims are men – accounting for eight out of 10 homicides in 2017 – women bear the greatest burden in terms of violence perpetrated by intimate partners.
In 2017, roughly 82 percent of victims of homicide perpetrated by intimate partners or family members were female. The corresponding figure for men: 18 percent.
The majority of male victims are killed by strangers.
“Women continue to pay the highest price as a result of gender inequality, discrimination and negative stereotypes,” Fedotov said. “Targeted criminal justice responses are needed to prevent and end gender-related killings.”
The global average, 1.3 female homicide victims per 100,000 female population, has been stable for more than half a decade. There are regional variations.
In Africa, the rate was about 3.1 victims per 100,000 female population.
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