Countries With The Highest Rate Of Femicide: A global human rights problem that is usually ignored is the protection of women against gender-based violence. People have forgotten the distressing fact that violence against women and girls, in all of its forms, all too often results in femicide. Femicide is a category of hate crime that is frequently defined as the intentional murder of women or girls because they are female, depending on the cultural context.
The term “femicide” is used in various Central American countries to describe the frequent, violent killings of women and girls by gang members who do so to instill fear and obedience in the general populace. Femicide may involve sexual assault or other wounds meant to humiliate the victim or her corpse. Femicide comes in many various forms, but they are all characterized by the beating, mutilation, torture, or murder of women and girls simply because they are female. The most severe type of violence against women and girls, according to the United Nations,is femicide.
This brutality has long been tolerated and accepted by several tribes and cultures. Additionally, femicide still occurs today, even though it is forbidden in many countries. Women are frequently seen more as objects than as members of society with equal rights in many cultures around the world. As a result, killing and beating women is commonplace, goes unnoticed, and is often even encouraged. Here is a list of some of the countries with the highest femicide rates worldwide.
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Top 8 Countries With The Highest Rate Of Femicide 2024
1. El Salvador: Recent years have seen pandemic levels of femicide and significant increases in domestic violence in El Salvador. According to research, in 2019, the country had the second-highest rate of femicide in Latin America after Honduras.
Even though El Salvador passed legislation in 2011 prohibiting gender violence and requiring sentences of 20 to 50 years for femicide, it is still challenging to identify and hold these criminals accountable for their actions. In El Salvador and other countries, interpersonal violence is the primary setting for most femicides, while systemic machismo and the normalization of gender-based violence by society sustain abuses and impunity. World Population Review figures show that El Salvador has the highest femicide rate in the world, at 13.8 per 100,000 females.
2. Antigua and Barbuda: An independent island nation in the West Indies is called Antigua and Barbuda. It is located in the Lesser Antilles’ Leeward Islands region, where the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean meet. This island nation, which is one of the most opulent in the Caribbean, is ranked number two on our list of nations with the highest prevalence of femicide.
Despite their best efforts and the establishment of laws against femicide by their government, femicide rates have continued to rise. According to data from the World Population Review, 11.2 out of every 100,000 women are murdered in Antigua and Barbuda, making it the second in the world.
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3. Jamaica: Intimate relationship abuse and femicide are two of the most common crimes against women committed intentionally in Jamaica.
Cultural views have been discovered to play a substantial role in the scope, kind, and reactions to violence against women and girls, notwithstanding the complexity of GBV’s causes. 11 out of every 100,000 women were murdered in Jamaica, according to statistics from the UNODC that was published in 2017. The World Population Review recently released data showing that 10.9 out of every 100,000 women die of femicide.
4. Venezuela: Despite the alarming rate at which women are being murdered in Venezuela, the nation still lacks a clear plan of action for understanding, reporting, preventing, and eliminating this severe form of gender-related violence.
The Utopix Femicide Monitor estimates that in 2022, the nation recorded 236 femicides, or one woman slain every 37 hours. Femicides in Venezuela are increasing significantly if we look at recent years. As victims of machismo violence were forced into lockdown with their assailants during the Covid-19 outbreak, the number of cases reported by the Femicide Monitor increased by 53% between 2019 and 2020, from 167 to 256. Next, 239 women were killed in 2021, which is virtually on par with 2024.
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5. South Africa: The number of femicides has increased dramatically in South Africa. Intimate partners kill the bulk of the more than 2,500 women who are 14 years of age or older who are murdered each year. Even though femicide murder is a prevalent crime, less than 20% of cases are ever covered in South African national media.
The human rights organization Centre for Constitutional Rights asserts that South Africa has a femicide rate that is five times greater than the average for the world. According to reports, 21 female killings took place across the country in the first two weeks of June 2020. Women in South Africa are pleading with the government to end femicide in social media messages that represent the nation’s shared feelings of fear and societal pain.
6. Honduras: Honduras is regarded as one of the world’s most dangerous locations, especially for women. In 2022, there were 59,147 allegations of violence against intimate partners, and there were 38,332 domestic violence cases, according to the National Emergency System. 297 women allegedly suffered from femicide, according to reports in the national media.
Between 2016 and 2021, there were 2,264 femicide victims. In one month in 2023, 38 women in Honduras died horrifying deaths. The second most common cause of mortality for women in this country who are of reproductive age is gender-based violence. However, the violent and fear-filled reality of Honduran women cannot be adequately captured by numbers and statistics on femicides.
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7. Guatemala: Despite official efforts to stop the practice, femicide has not diminished in Guatemala during the previous twelve years. Femicide was defined and made illegal in Guatemala by the Law Against Femicide and Other Forms of Violence Against Women, which was passed in 2008.
As part of its efforts to end femicide and other types of violence against women in the nation, the Law also established regulatory organizations and courts.
Femicide and violence against women have not decreased, however, mainly because of a lack of funding from the government and opposition from the agencies’ local levels. Based on the femicide rating from World Population Review, which estimated that 7.6 of every 100,000 women in the country died of femicide, the country was listed among the nations with the highest femicide rate.
8. Mexico: Mexico, particularly Ciudad Juárez, is one of the top nations for the number of femicides that take place each year. Researchers discovered that the majority of women were murdered by their present or former partners in their quest to comprehend the causes of this violence. Mexico formally started keeping track of the number of femicide incidents in 2001.
In 2021, there were more than 1,000 femicides in the nation. According to information accumulated over the last few years, 10 girls or women are assassinated in Mexico every day on average. Statistics from the World Population Review show that 5.8 out of every 100,000 women were the victims of femicide.
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Conclusion: The countries with the highest incidence of femicide worldwide include just a few of these. Increasing public awareness of how femicide differs from other murders and crimes can help to avert it significantly by encouraging support for a policy change. To put an end to femicide, governments must act everywhere in the world. This demands immediate changes to the patriarchal structures and harmful practices that allow femicide to happen, such as ensuring that our legal systems hold offenders accountable and creating secure spaces where victims of violence can report their experiences to stop it.
Edeh Samuel Chukwuemeka, ACMC, is a lawyer and a certified mediator/conciliator in Nigeria. He is also a developer with knowledge in various programming languages. Samuel is determined to leverage his skills in technology, SEO, and legal practice to revolutionize the legal profession worldwide by creating web and mobile applications that simplify legal research. Sam is also passionate about educating and providing valuable information to people.