A new joint assessment by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime,UNODC, and UN Women has shown that femicide is escalating globally, with intimate partners and family members killing a woman or girl every 10 minutes in 2024.
The findings were released to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, highlighting what the UN describes as one of the most extreme and brutal forms of gender-based violence.
The report records an estimated 80,000 women and girls intentionally killed last year by intimate partners or relatives such as fathers, mothers, uncles and brothers.
This translates to an average of 137 victims every day. The UN warns that the real figures are likely far higher due to persistent under-reporting in many countries.
Africa recorded the highest number of intimate partner and family-related female killings with an estimated 22,600 victims—equivalent to three victims per 100,000 women and girls.
Across all regions, current and former intimate partners remain the most common perpetrators, responsible for roughly 60 per cent of family-related killings.
The report outlines femicide as a gender-motivated killing driven by discrimination, unequal power relations, harmful norms and entrenched gender stereotypes.
It differs from homicide where motives may not be gender-related. Femicide can occur at home, workplaces, schools, and public or online spaces, and may stem from intimate partner violence, sexual violence, harassment, harmful practices, or trafficking.
Gender-related killings extend beyond private settings and also occur in contexts involving rape, so-called honour killings, female genital mutilation, and hate crimes targeting individuals based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
Armed conflict, gang activity, human trafficking and organised crime further heighten risks.
READ ALSO: UN, WHO condemn Israeli murder of Palestinian journalists
UN Women reports that women in public roles—including parliamentarians, journalists, human rights advocates and environmental defenders—face rising levels of both online and offline attacks.
One in four women journalists globally and a third of women parliamentarians in the Asia-Pacific region have received online death threats.
Technology-facilitated abuse, such as cyberstalking and image-based blackmail, is also escalating and in some cases has led to femicide.
Data cited in the report shows that 81 women environmental defenders and 34 women human rights defenders were killed in 2022. Indigenous women remain disproportionately affected, while transgender women face increasing targeted killings worldwide.
Persistent gender inequality, harmful social norms, weak protection systems, and limited accountability continue to fuel the rise in gender-related killings.
Conflict, displacement, economic instability and shrinking civic spaces further intensify risks for women and girls everywhere.
The UN is supporting countries through legal reforms, survivor-centred services, data improvement initiatives and law-enforcement training.
It also advances preventive efforts through public campaigns aimed at challenging discriminatory norms and strengthening communities’ responses to violence.
The global goals for gender equality—particularly Goal 5 of the Sustainable Development Goals—and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, adopted in 1979, remain the key international frameworks guiding efforts to combat gender-based violence and prevent femicide.
NAN
