Femicide in Latin America
Femicide in Latin America ('Frauentötung'; from English femicide) concerns the particular accumulation of gender-specific killings of women in the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries of America : Among the 25 countries with the highest femicide rates in 2016 were 14 in Latin America. An average of twelve women in Latin America fall victim to femicide every day.
Femicide in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico
As a result of the feminicides in Ciudad Juárez, the northern Mexican border town has been one of the cities with the highest rates of femicide worldwide since the 1990s - more than 300 women lost their lives here in 2010 alone. While femicides are mostly carried out by close relatives of the victims, the murders in Ciudad Juárez (1.3 million inhabitants in 2010) are a systematic hunt for women, driven by drug cartels, police and politics. There is usually no search for the perpetrators and their conviction. The events here are considered to be the key event that led to the growing international attention to the murders in Latin America and their drastic proportions.
In 2019, around 3,800 murders of women were recorded across Mexico, almost a third classified as femicide. In April 2020 alone, 337 women were allegedly murdered, the highest number since 2015, when the statistics began. It is believed that 70 were victims of femicide (21%). The officially recorded statistics indicate 97.6 murder victims per day for 2019, this number rose to 98.8 per day in the first half of 2020. Mexico's Security Minister Alfonso Durazo said in July that 489 women were victims of femicide, around 3% of the total of 17,982 murder victims. Compared to the 448 women murdered in the first half of 2019, this was an increase of around 9.2%; the numbers were even lower in 2018.
United Nations action
In 2014, the United Nations first introduced the Latin American Model Protocol for Investigating the Gender-Based Killings of Women. It is to be used by the police, courts and forensic experts to investigate femicides. In addition to sanctions provisions for the treatment of committed femicide, the protocol also includes preventive and compensatory measures. The aim was not only to explain the background to femicides to the various authorities, but also to make them aware of what it meant to be responsible for the safety of women.
On September 27, 2018, the United Nations and the European Union announced an investment of 50 million euros to be used to combat femicides in Latin America. As part of the Spotlight Initiative , the EU and the United Nations want to introduce new programs in five Latin American countries. According to Neven Mimica, EU Commissioner for International Development and Cooperation, the goal should be to work primarily with the governments of the respective countries in order to get to the root of the current problems. In the case of femicides, these are patriarchal attitudes, misogyny , sexism and the objectification of women.
Statutory Regulations
16 Latin American countries have laws regarding the killing of women. The offense is referred to as either femicide or murder on a gender-specific basis.
| Legal Regulations Against Femicide in Latin America | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| country | law | year | Offense |
| Argentina | Law 26,791 | 2012 | murder |
| Bolivia | Law No. 348 | 2013 | Femicide |
| Brazil | Law 13.104 | 2015 | Femicide |
| Chile | Law 20,480 | 2010 | Femicide |
| Costa Rica | Law No. 8.589 | 2007 | Femicide |
| Dominican Republic | Ley Organica sobre el Derecho de las Mujeres a una Vida Libre de Violencia
(Basic law of the right of a woman to live free from violence) |
2007 | murder |
| Ecuador | Código Orgánico Integral Penal
(Code of criminal conduct) |
2014 | Femicide |
| El Salvador | Ordinance 520 | 2010 | Femicide |
| Guatemala | Regulation 22-2008 | 2008 | Femicide |
| Honduras | Regulation 23-2013 | 2013 | Femicide |
| Colombia | Rosa Elvira Cely Law | 2015 | Femicide |
| Mexico | Ley General de Accesso de las Mujeres a una Vida Libre de Violencia
(General law on women's access to a life free from violence) |
2012 | Femicide |
| Nicaragua | Law No. 779 | 2012 | Femicide |
| Panama | Law 82 | 2013 | Femicide |
| Peru | Law 30.068 | 2013 | Femicide |
| Venezuela | Law 550/14 | 2014 | Femicide |
Individual evidence
- ↑ WHO | Femicide. Retrieved October 23, 2018 .
- ↑ Small Arms Survey - A Gendered Analysis of Violent Deaths. Retrieved October 23, 2018 .
- ↑ a b Press release: The European Union and the United Nations are announcing today a EUR 50 million investment to end femicide in Latin America . In: UN Women . ( unwomen.org [accessed October 23, 2018]).
- ↑ Anna Schulte, Olga Burkert: Dossier: Femicide in Central America and Mexico. In: Latin America News . No. 444, June 2011 ( online at latein Amerika-nachrichten.de).
- ↑ Announcement: Since the beginning of the recording: Number of murdered women in Mexico reaches a sad record. In: Merkur.de . May 26, 2020, accessed on May 31, 2020 (there is also a link to official statistics).
- ↑ Message (dpa): Mexico: The number of feminicides during the Corona crisis has risen sharply. In: The time . July 21, 2020, accessed July 24, 2020.
- ↑ Take five: Fighting femicide in Latin America . In: UN Women . ( unwomen.org [accessed October 23, 2018]).
- ↑ a b Regulations . In: Gender Equality Observatory . ( cepal.org [accessed October 23, 2018]).