Defenseless in their own homes: according to a report, around 45,000 women and girls were killed by their partners or family members worldwide last year. In view of the “alarmingly high” murder rate, the UN is pushing for better protection options and a strengthening of women’s rights.
According to a UN report, more than five women and girls have been killed by partners or family members in their homes every hour in the past year.
Around 56 percent of all murders of women and girls – 45,000 out of a total of 81,000 – were committed by partners or family members in 2021, according to the report by the UN organizations UNODC and UN Women, which deal with crime and women respectively. For murders of men, it was 11 percent.
Overall, the “alarmingly high” number of murders of women and girls has hardly changed in recent years, it said. However, a high number of unreported cases is possible. The UN organizations called for better protection of women and girls. “We need a collective action by society that fulfills the rights of women and girls to feel safe and to be safe – at home, on the streets and everywhere,” said UN Women Director Sima Bahous.