Gender-Related Killings of Women and Girls report

• Recently, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and UN Women released a study titled-Gender-related killings of women and girls (femicide/feminicide), revealing an increase in gender-related killings of women and girls in 2022.
• Femicide or feminicide refers to the deliberate killing of women or girls purely because they are female. It’s a gender-based crime rooted in deeply ingrained societal attitudes and discrimination against women.

MAJOR FINDINGS

• Globally, nearly 89,000 women and girls were killed intentionally in 2022, the highest yearly number recorded in the past two decades.
• Around 55% of total female homicide victims are killed by family.
• Africa reported the highest number of intimate partner/family-related homicides of women in 2022, surpassing Asia for the first time in 13 years.
• With respect to India
  • India experienced a slight decline in gender-based killings over the past decade.
  • Dowry-related reasons consistently topped the list as the leading cause of gender-related deaths in India.

ABOUT UNITED NATIONS OFFICE ON DRUGS AND CRIME (UNODC)

• It was established in 1997 by merging the United Nations Centre for International Crime Prevention and the United Nations International Drug Control Programme.
• It was named as UNODC in 2002.
• HQ- Vienna, Austria
• It has 20 field offices covering over 150 countries and works directly with Governments and non-governmental organizations.