New UN Study Reveals Shocking Number Of Women Killed By Intimate Partners

Every day, roughly 137 women and girls die at the hands of someone they know.

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By Tanya A. Christian · Updated October 23, 2020

A new report by the UN is revealing how many women are killed each year at the hands of people they know. And the numbers are chilling. The study, titled “Global Study on Homicide: Gender-related Killing of Women and Girls”, gathered data on homicides involving female victims in 2017, and released the findings to coincide with International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on Nov. 25. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime found that globally, around 87,000 women were killed last year. Of those, 50,000 — roughly 58 percent — were at the hands of someone they knew. As ABC News points out, that works out to about 137 per day. “While the vast majority of homicide victims are men, women continue to pay the highest price as a result of gender inequality, discrimination and negative stereotypes, said UNODC Executive Director Yury Fedotov in a statement accompanying the report. “They are also the most likely to be killed by intimate partners and family.” In analyzing the deaths by region, researchers found that Africa and the Americas ranked among the highest in gender-related killings by an intimate partner. In Africa, the rate was around 3.1 victims per 100,000, and the Americas clocked in with 1.6 victims per 100,000. To combat the issue, Fedotov believes more work needs to be done around the response to these killings and is calling on targeted criminal justice measures to significantly stem the current statistics. The study concludes that, “The development and effective implementation of national strategies to combat gender-based violence and legislation to address domestic violence, sexual harassment and marital rape can provide the tools to build a protective system and can ensure that there is no impunity for such crimes.”