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Every 10 minutes a woman or girl dies at the hands of an intimate partner or close relative. It’s six every hour; more than 140 every day, worldwide.
The figures come from a new report by UN Women and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) which found that 51,000 women and girls were intentionally killed by an intimate partner or family member last year.
Those numbers chill Alexis* to the bone because she and her children were almost among them.
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She didn’t realize that her ex was controlling and manipulating her until she felt “completely powerless” in the relationship. Even then she believed that she was the problem.
It was only when he became aggressive towards their children that Alexis decided she had to leave.
“When I managed to escape, his behavior went from ‘I’m going to control you’ to ‘I’m going to destroy you’. I felt like a dead woman walking,” she told 9news.com.au.
Femicide in 2023: Global Estimates of Intimate Partner/Family Members found that two-thirds of the 85,000 murders of women that occurred in 2023 were committed by partners or relatives.
Africa reported the highest number of victims with 21,700, followed by Asia with 18,500, America with 8,300 and Europe with 2,300. In 2023, Oceania recorded around 300 victims.
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Although the report did not include Australia-specific data, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare reported that on average one woman was killed by an intimate partner every 11 days in 2022–2023.
“We know that this year 85 women lost their lives due to violence,” Safe and Equal Executive Director Tania Farha told 9News these are only the deaths that have been officially reported.
“The true number is likely far higher, including unseen victims and missing and murdered First Nations women.”
Some of these women had just left domestic or family violence when they were killed, which is one of the most dangerous times for surviving victims.
”It’s never as simple as just ‘leaving’… it’s like a game of cat and mouse. There’s this overwhelming fear of what’s going to happen next,” Alexis said.
He threatened to kill me, he threatened to take my children, he came unannounced to school and to their swimming lessons just to intimidate me.
When she reported the ex’s abuse and escalating behavior to the police, Alexis felt rejected, thwarted, and “blamed.”
This is a common experience of women fleeing violence.
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Farha called the findings of the UN Women report devastating but not surprising and said women like Alexis will not be safe until changes are made.
“If we want to prevent more senseless deaths, we must prioritize a comprehensive and coordinated approach that includes supporting victim survivors, working with perpetrators and preventing domestic violence before it starts by addressing the attitudes, cultures, systems and structures that enable it,” she said.
“Without it, these tragic statistics will continue to grow – both locally and around the world.”
Support is available from State counseling center for sexual assault, domestic violence at 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732).
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