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Physical Autonomy

Femicide or feminicide

Latin America, the Caribbean and Spain (22 countries): Femicide or feminicide, most recent data available (In absolute numbers and rates per 100.000 women)

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Show indicator in CEPALSTAT Show technical note and sources in CEPALSTAT

Corresponds to the quantification of homicides of women 15 years of age and over, killed by gender violence. Expressed in absolute number and rate per 100,000 women. According to national laws, it is called femicide, feminicide, or aggravated homicide due to gender.

Analysis

In the last years the region has witnessed significant progress, with the approval in 18 countries of laws or reforms of criminal codes  that criminalize woman’s murder (for the mere fact of being a woman). This can be named femicide or feminicide (as a crime independent of others already typified in the penal laws), or qualified as aggravated murder.

According to official information provided by countries, in 2016 a total of 1,917 women from 17 countries in the region (14 from Latin America and 3 from the Caribbean) were victims of feminicide or femicide.

Honduras is still, for all years in the historical series, the country of the region with the highest number of femicides (466 in 2016), reaching a worrying rate of 10,2 femicides per 100,000 women. El Salvador currently presents the highest rate of femicides: 11,0 per 100,000 women, meaning 349 deaths in 2016.

Those figures are a strong call to attention to persevere in its efforts sustain and deepen efforts at national level to put an end to this problem. In addition to concrete measures of prevention, care, protection and reparation, the availability of information is another major challenge to eradicate violence against women.