Violence and abuse against women is not abating in Latin America

Latin America is one of the regions with more cases of violence against women and girlsa situation exacerbated by persistent inequality, poverty, fear of reporting and a lack of policies to stop this scourge.

According to the Observatory for Gender Equality of Latin America and the Caribbean (OIG) of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), in 2022 and so far this year, at least one femicide has been reported every two hours. .

On the occasion of the UN International Day against Violence against Women and organizations that defend the rights of women and girls repeated their calls to that states increase efforts and budgets to create policies that prevent these violent acts and that there is a timely response to victims in justice and health matters.

Furthermore, these factors are partly one of the main reasons why many women or girls do not report due to fear of re-victimization or threats from aggressors.

The numbers don’t budge
According to the Brazilian Public Security Forum, the number of murders of women has increased by 2.6% so far this yearwith 776 reported cases of death due to gender problems, while in the first half of the year a woman or girl was raped every 8 minutes.

Of all recorded rapes, 61.4% of victims were between 0 and 13 years old, and 8 out of 10 were under 18 years old. Most of the victims (88.7%) were women, and 56.8% were black.

According to official figures, many cases are not reported due to fear of reprisals and Only 8.5% of rapes are reported to the police, and 4.2% through information systems in hospitals and health centers.

In addition, the Forum stated that at least 1,902 women who were killed were registered as cases of murder.

Mexico reaches 25N with 2,594 women murdered between January and September 2023, representing an average of 9.5 per day, and a noticeable degree of distrust in justice.

According to the 2023 National Survey of Victimization and Public Safety Perceptions, three out of 10 female victims of crime do not report it because it would be a “waste of time.”

The president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, said in March that since he took office in 2018, the number of femicides had decreased, but UN Women’s representative in Mexico, Belén Sanz Luque, told EFE that there had been “no significant decrease” in the past six years. of sexist violence in the country.

The 2021 National Survey on Relationship Dynamics in Homes found that 70.1% of Mexican women aged 15 or older had experienced at least one situation of violence, a figure that has generally held up over the years. year.

There were many of them in Bolivia this year 74 femicides, 27,130 cases of domestic violence, 2,140 for rape, 2,105 for violence against children and 2,954 for sexual abuse.

This year, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IDC) found the Bolivian state responsible for violating the right to personal integrity, judicial guarantees and revictimization against Brise de Angulo, who was injured 21 years ago by her cousin.

In Panama, 12 murders of women were recorded in the first 10 months of 2023, and the number of violent deaths of women rose to 23.

Experts consulted by EFE condemned the “naturalization” of violence against women and that it is carried out with increasing cruelty, such as the case of a mother who was burned alive by her ex-partner in front of her daughters and the case of another who was killed with 40 stab wounds to the chest.

Activists are promoting a national debate on the classification of feminicide.

In Venezuela, according to unofficial data, the number of murders of women decreased compared to 2022, when it ended with 236 women killed by men who were part of their closest circle.

The non-governmental organization Utopix counted 154 deaths between January and September 2023, while the Prosecutor’s Office recorded 1,264 femicides between 2018 and July 2023, of which 636 were frustrated.

Linda Loaiza, who was abducted, tortured, mutilated and raped in 2001, denounced this month that the country did nothing in her case four years after the Inter-American Court’s ruling condemned the state for “the acts of torture and sexual violence she suffered.

The director of the non-governmental organization Tinta Violeta, Daniela Inojosa, spoke to EFE about the increase in “violence against property”, carried out by men who, after breaking up with women, “attack with property they have acquired through their work, but which is part of a union.”

In Peru, 145 murders of women were recorded this year, compared to 147 reported in 2022.

As for cases of sexual abuse, the one that hit the country the most this year is that of Mila, an 11-year-old girl, who was raped by her stepfather when she was 8 years old and left her pregnant. Initially, the minor was denied a therapeutic abortion, the only one that is legal in the country, and she finally exercised that right.

This case has worried international organizations and is not the only case of rape of girls that ends in pregnancy and for whom the state places obstacles in their access to abortion.

In Argentina, the number of victims of gender violence increased and in October there were 250 femicides, three trans/transvesticides and 22 related femicides against men, according to the “Adriana Marisel Zambrano” Femicide Observatory.

The UN and the European Union (EU) will finance a project for the prevention and elimination of gender and generational violence in Uruguay.

Uruguay’s National Women’s Institute (InMujeres) reported this Friday that it received more than 17,800 consultations on gender-based violence from January to September.