Gender-related killings of women and girls (femicide/feminicide)

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Vienna and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), New York, published this research brief on November 23, 2022. The brief presents and analyses the global estimates on gender-related killings of women and girls in 2021, especially in the private sphere. It is also the fifth issue in UNODC’s Data Matters series launched in 2021. The findings of the brief show that in 2021, around 45,000 women and girls across the world were killed by their partners or other family members. This amounts to more than five women or girls killed every hour by someone close to them. While the majority of the homicides against men and boys happen in the public sphere, women and girls face overwhelming amount of ‘homicidal violence’ within the private sphere. Discussing the incidence of violence against women, the brief also presents case studies from different parts of the world to understand the causes and responses to the same. It also addresses the problem of poor data collection that hinders the identification of gender-related killings of women and girls...