In 2023, about 51,100 women and girls lost their lives at the hands of their partners or relatives.
United Nations: Two United Nations agencies released a shocking report on Monday. These reports suggested that the most dangerous place for women is their own home, and an average of 140 women and girls were killed by their partner or family member every day in 2023. According to this report released by UN Women and the United Nations Office on Crime and Drugs (UNODC), about 51,100 women and girls lost their lives in 2023, and were murdered by their partners or family members. This figure is more than the death toll of 48,800 women in 2022.
‘Women have been victims of violence for a long time’
The report said the increased number of deaths is mainly due to more data being available from countries, and not due to an increase in murders. Yet these reports make it clear that ‘women and girls everywhere are being disproportionately affected by gender-based violence and no region is untouched by it.’ Nyardzai Gumbonjwanda, deputy executive director of UN Women, said that women and girls have been killed by their own family or partners for a long time and due to lack of attention, this trend is continuing unabated. He said that gender discrimination and social beliefs in particular promote violence.
‘Africa will have the highest number of such murders in 2023’
UN Women has appealed to governments and leaders to use their power to promote measures to prevent violence against women, not abuse it. According to the data, the highest number of murders in 2023 occurred in Africa, where approximately 21,700 women and girls were killed by their family or partners. There were 2.9 such murders per 100,000 population in Africa, which is higher than other regions. This is followed by America and Oceania, where 1.6 and 1.5 women were murdered per 1,00,000 women respectively. This figure was 0.8 in Asia and 0.6 in Europe.
’80 percent of total murders are of men’
The report also noted that ‘women and girls are more likely to be victims of violence in private spaces’, while men are mostly killed outside the home in murder incidents. The report also states that in 2023, 80 percent of the people killed in murder incidents in the world were men while 20 percent were women. However, the shocking thing is that of the women who were murdered in 2023, 60 percent of their lives were taken by their partners or relatives. According to the report, despite all efforts by governments to stop the killing of women and girls, it is still happening at an alarming level.
