The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) has warned in the framework of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women that more than 4,400 women have been victims of femicide in 2021 in 29 countries in the region.
Specifically, 4,445 women have been murdered in 18 countries and territories in Latin America, while 28 would have done so in Caribbean territories, representing at least 12 violent deaths per day.
The data place Honduras in the ranking with the highest rate of femicides (4.6 cases per 100,000 women), followed by the Dominican Republic (2.7 cases), El Salvador (2.4), Bolivia (1.8 cases) and Brazil (1.7). Belize and Guyana were the countries with the highest rates of femicide in the Caribbean.
The report of the Gender Equality Observatory for Latin America and the Caribbean (OIG) published by ECLAC also warns that the highest rates of femicide are among adolescents and young women between 15 and 29 years of age.
Thus, of the data collected, more than 4 percent correspond to girls under 14 years of age. The text also shows that at least 781 minors lost their parents to violent death, although only 10 countries have records of this data.
«Faced with the statistical silence in most countries, it was feminist organizations and activists who began the process of compiling data and building information on femicides in several countries in the region,» reads the report.
The statistics, which reveal «the persistence of patriarchal, discriminatory and violent cultural patterns», give an idea of the situation in the region, but the data, the organization warned, must be used for the «design of comprehensive public policies on violence against women and girls».
«The figures we present today on femicides in Latin America and the Caribbean are unacceptable. Our obligation is to redouble our efforts so that women and girls in our region can truly exercise their right to live a life free of violence and discrimination,» concluded the ECLAC Executive Secretariat.
