Home remains the most dangerous place for women, says UN report

The latest report on femicides by UN Women found that 85,000 women were killed by men in 2023. “The home remains the most dangerous place for women and girls.”

News Center- The latest report on femicides by UN Women found that 85,000 women and girls were killed intentionally by men in 2023, with 60% (51,100) of these deaths committed by someone close to the victim. UN Women said its figures showed that, globally, the most dangerous place for a woman to be was in her home, where the majority of women die at the hands of men.

“What the data is telling us is that it is the private and domestic sphere's of women’s lives, where they should be safest, that so many of them are being exposed to deadly violence,” said Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda, UN Women’s deputy executive director. “We see the numbers in this report as the tip of the iceberg because we know not all women’s deaths are recorded and not all causes of death are accurately recorded as femicides, and there were many communities where we couldn’t access any information.”

The UN global estimates on femicide, defined as the gender-related killing of women and girls, showed an overall decrease of the 89,000 intentional deaths of women and girls in 2022, but an increase in numbers killed by intimate partners and family members.

‘Africa is the region with the highest number of victims’

In 2023, Africa recorded the highest rates of intimate partner and family-related femicide, followed by the Americas, and then by Oceania, according to the report.

“In Europe and the Americas, most women killed in the domestic sphere (64 per cent and 58 per cent, respectively) were victims of intimate partners, while elsewhere, family members were the primary perpetrators.”

UN Women said that available data for three countries, France (2019-2022), South Africa (2020-2021 and Colombia (2014-2017confirmed that a “significant share” of women killed by their intimate partners (between 22 and 37 per cent) had previously reported some form of physical, sexual or psychological violence by their partner.

“Member States have increasingly adopted measures to address femicide in recent years, but the accountability of countries’ efforts to fight gender-related killings is also measured by the quality and availability of their statistics on femicide,” said the report. “Significant efforts to reverse the negative trend in terms of data availability would thus increase government accountability for addressing violence against women.”

“Violence against women and girls is not inevitable—it is preventable. We need robust legislation, improved data collection, greater government accountability, a zero-tolerance culture, and increased funding for women’s rights organizations and institutional bodies. As we approach the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in 2025, it is time for world leaders to UNiTE and act with urgency, recommit and channel the resources needed to end this crisis once and for all”, highlighted Sima Bahous, UN Women Executive Director.