Alarming Record of Women’s Murders in Latin America

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – At least 3,287 women were murdered in Latin America in 2018. ECLAC’s Executive Secretary, Alician Bárcena, explained that femicides are only the tip of the iceberg of rampant violence against women: “The figures show how much patriarchy, discrimination and violence are part of the culture in the region,” she said.

Femicide is the deliberate killing of women and girls, often because of their gender.

Femicides are mostly committed by men. They differ from homicides, in that these acts are often committed by partners or ex-partners. Before that, women are usually exposed to threats and intimidation, ongoing abuse and sexual violence. They often find themselves in powerless and financially dependent situations.

On average, there were two victims of femicide per 100,000 women. The highest rate in 2018 was in El Salvador (6.8), Trinidad and Tobago (3.4) and Bolivia (2.3). In 2017, El Salvador also had the highest murder rate (10.5). This was followed by Honduras (5.1) and Santa Lucia (4.4).

From 2016 to 2019, murder rates remained roughly the same in all countries. In absolute terms, Brazil leads due to its population size. In 2019, 1,206 femicides have already been recorded. Behind it are Mexico (898) and Argentina (255).

In Argentina, the feminist organization Women of Latin America (Mumalá) recorded 226 femicides up to October 31st, 2019.

This means that in the South American country a woman is murdered every 32 hours on average. Mumalá reported that 40 percent of the victims were killed by their partner and 28 percent by their ex-partner this year. The crime scene was their own home in most cases. Twenty-six percent of women were killed with firearms and 30 percent by stabbings.

The available figures do not accurately reflect reality. ECLAC’s statistics do not include a number of countries, such as Chile, Nicaragua, and Dominica. In addition, the methods used to collect the figures are very different. In the case of Barbados and other Caribbean countries, only femicides committed by partners or ex-partners were included.

Accordingly, the actual number of femicides in the region is likely to be much higher than the statistics show.