The joint report by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and UN Women indicates that women and girls in Africa are most at risk of being killed by their partners or other family members, more than anywhere else in the world.
In 2021, over 45,000 women and girls across the world were killed by intimate partners or other family members. Africa has the highest level of violence against females, relative to its size of female population.
This means that more than five women or girls are killed every hour by someone in their own family.
While the true scale of femicide may be much higher, by absolute numbers, Africa had the second-highest cases of female intimate partner/family-related killings, at 17,200, with Asia leading at 17,800. The Americas had 7,500 cases and 2,500 in Europe.
African women are at most risk of killing by an intimate partner or family member“Data on gender-related killings committed in the public sphere are particularly scarce, making it difficult to inform prevention policies for these types of killings,” it says.
The UN therefore calls for more protection mechanisms for human rights defenders and women’s rights activists.
“I call upon governments and partners across the world to increase long-term funding and support to women’s rights organisations,” UN Women executive director Sima Bahous said.
The UN report ahead of the global observance of 16 days of activism against gender-based violence starting on Friday.