GBV Kenya

A UN report has listed home as the place where majority of women and girls were murdered last year by their partners or family members.

 Elimination of Violence against Women

The findings were released by the U.N.’s Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) on Sunday to coincide with the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

On average, more than five women or girls were killed every hour by someone in their own family in 2021 according to the study by UNODC and UN Women.

The study, part of a forthcoming global report, analyzed homicide data related to gender violence and “femicide,” which is defined as a gender-based hate crime.

Of all the women and girls intentionally killed last year, some 56 percent were killed by intimate partners or other family members (45,000 out of 81,000), showing that home is not a safe place for many women and girls. Meanwhile, 11 percent of all male homicides are perpetrated in the private sphere.

UNODC Executive Director Ghada Waly said: “No woman or girl should fear for her life because of who she is. To stop all forms of gender-related killings of women and girls, we need to count every victim, everywhere, and improve understanding of the risks and drivers of femicide so we can design better and more effective prevention and criminal justice responses.

Over the past decade, the overall number of female homicides has remained largely unchanged, underscoring the urgency to prevent and respond to this scourge with stronger actions, according to the report.  The report further states that even though these numbers are alarmingly high, the true scale of femicide may be much higher.

“Too many victims of femicide still go uncounted – given inconsistencies in definitions and criteria amongst countries, for roughly four in ten women and girls killed intentionally in 2021, there is not enough information to identify them as femicide, especially for those killings happening in the public sphere”.

The report also recommends some interventions that can help eliminate Gender-related killings that include; early identification of women affected by violence, access to survivor-centered support and protection, ensuring that the police and justice systems are more responsive to the needs of survivors, and primary prevention by addressing the root causes of violence against women and girls including through transforming harmful masculinities, social norms, eliminating structural gender inequalities and gender stereotypes.

“Strengthening data collection on femicides is a critical step to inform policies and programs aimed to prevent and eliminate violence against women and girls.”