UN: 81,000 women killed, globally, in 2021
A woman holds a sign denouncing femicides in France during a vigil by the families of victims of the 1980s Iran-Iraq war, outside the United Nations mission headquarters in Iran's capital Tehran on December 13, 2022.
What you need to know:
- Report notes that although 81 per cent of global homicides are against men and boys, women and girls are disproportionately affected by homicidal violence in the private sphere.
- More than five women or girls were killed every hour by someone in their own family.
At least 81,100 women and girls were killed globally in 2021, a latest joint report by United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and UN Women has revealed.
Of these, about 45,000 women and girls were killed by their intimate partners or other family members. This means that more than five women or girls were killed every hour by someone in their own family.
The report notes that although 81 per cent of global homicides are against men and boys, women and girls are disproportionately affected by homicidal violence in the private sphere.
It estimates that 56 per cent of women homicides are committed by intimate partners or other family members, while only 11 per cent of all men homicides are perpetrated in the private sphere.
Gaps, however, exist on accurate numbers of gender motivated killings of women.
"Estimating the global number of gender-related killings of women and girls is challenging and data gaps persist," the report states.
It indicates that of the estimated 81,100 female homicides in 2021, roughly four in ten have no contextual information to allow them to be identified and counted as femicide.
Infidelity
Similarly, it says, 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.
In Kenya, often intimate partners kill each other over infidelity, fight over food and refusal to reconcile after a separation.
For instance, last October, police in Siaya County arrested a man who allegedly killed his wife over suspected infidelity.
A month earlier, a woman in Kipsongo, Nzoia County was arrested for allegedly stabbing her husband to death for picking a quarrel with her over food.
