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Globally, an intimate partner or family member was responsible
for the deaths of approximately 51,100 women and girls during
2023, an increase from an estimated 48,800 victims in 2022, UN
Women and the U.N. 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.
But 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.” And they said, “the home is
the most dangerous place for women and girls.”
The highest number of intimate partner and family killings was
in Africa – with an estimated 21,700 victims in 2023, 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.
According to the report, the intentional killing of women in the
private sphere in Europe and the Americas is largely by intimate
partners.
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.
The report said that despite efforts to prevent the killing of
women and girls by countries, their killings “remain at
alarmingly high levels.”
“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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