As the world celebrates the 2019 International Women’s Day, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, UNODC, has warned against gender-related killings on women and girls in Africa.
In a statement, the acknowledged the high risks women face by referring to a 2017 report, which revealed that 87,000 women were killed globally and about 60 per cent of the crime was perpetrated by intimate partners or family members including parents, children or any other member of their family.
“While the vast majority of homicide victims are men, women continue to pay the highest price as a result of gender inequality, discrimination and negative stereotypes. They are also the most likely to be killed by intimate partners and family,” said UNODC Executive Director Yury Fedotov at the launch of the report.
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The agency also faulted lack of reliable and available data on homicide in Africa, stressing that, states need to implement the International Classification of Crime for Statistical Purposes (ICCS) in order to properly analyse data on gender-related killings.
“The lack of reliable data on homicides in Africa is a strong obstacle to fully understand the trends and scope of gender-related killings as well as the links with other forms of violence.
“Implementing the International Classification of Crime for Statistical Purposes (ICCS) constitutes a step for states to better collect and analyze data on gender-related killings.
“States should also ratify and implement the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against women as well as its protocols and other international treaties protecting women’s rights, including the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC).”
