A United Nations report published yesterday suggests that women and girls are most vulnerable to violence in their own homes.
Awareness: last night’s walk through Croydon town centre as part of 16 Days of Action to End Violence Against Women and Girls
The report by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime was published to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.
“Women and girls everywhere continue to be affected by this extreme form of gender-based violence and no region is excluded,” the report says.
“The home is the most dangerous place for women and girls.”
An average of 140 women and girls were killed each day in 2023 by their intimate partner or a close relative, the UN research says.
“An estimated 80% of all homicide victims in 2023 were men while 20% were women, but lethal violence within the family takes a much higher toll on women than men, with almost 60% of all women who were intentionally killed in 2023 being victims of intimate partner/family member homicide,” the report said.
In Croydon, a candlelight awareness walk was held through the town centre yesterday evening to mark the start of 16 Days of Action to End Violence Against Women and Girls.
According to the UN report, the intentional killing of women in the private sphere in Europe and the Americas is largely by intimate partners. By contrast, the vast majority of male homicides take place outside homes and families, it said.
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“Even though men and boys account for the vast majority of homicide victims, women and girls continue to be disproportionately affected by lethal violence in the private sphere,” the report said.
The report said despite efforts to prevent the killing of women and girls by countries, their killings “remain at alarmingly high levels”.
“They are often the culmination of repeated episodes of gender-based violence, which means they are preventable through timely and effective interventions.”
- The Cassandra Centre is a Croydon-based charity that provides advice, support and counselling services for young people and families who are directly or indirectly involved in abusive relationships.
- To contact them, click here to visit their website, or phone 020 3601 7475
Read more: ‘Our failure can be read on the headstones of dead youth’
Read more: Croydon in 2023: London’s borough with most murder victims
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There seems to be a linkage between violence against children and violence against women. Austrian peace researcher Franz Jedlicka explains this “intersectionality” in his recent podcast episode (and on LinkedIn). And he also mentions the White Ribbon Campaign – a men’s movement to end violence against women.