International UN study: More than 51,000 femicides in private settings worldwide

Last year, according to a United Nations estimate, 51,100 girls and women worldwide were killed by relatives or male partners.

However, the total number of femicides is even higher, according to a study by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the UN women's organization UN Women. This is because there is insufficient data on killings outside the private sphere.

A femicide is a deliberate killing in which the female gender of the victim plays a role as a motive. In 2023, Africa had the highest rate of femicides in which the victim and perpetrator were in an intimate or family relationship. The figure there was 2.9 victims per 100,000 women. In Europe, the rate was lowest at 0.6.

According to the UN organization, femicide rates in Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe have fallen in recent years. In Western Europe, however, slightly rising rates were observed. The study was published on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

Futile alarm signals

The UN experts pointed out that many victims had raised the alarm about violence in their relationship before they died. "This suggests that many killings of women are preventable," they wrote. Contact bans for male partners could save lives, they said.

While most femicides in Europe and the Americas are committed in private by current or former partners, the majority of perpetrators in the rest of the world are relatives. UNODC and UN Women are therefore calling for prevention measures for families.

Last year, almost 85,000 women and girls died as a result of violent crime. In comparison, more boys and men are killed - they make up around 80 percent of the total number of victims.

SDA