Every ten minutes a woman dies at hands of family: UN report

A woman is intentionally killed by a partner or family member every 10 minutes in 2023, according to a new United Nations report.

The alarming statistics have prompted this year’s UNiTE campaign during the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence, which runs from November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, to December 10, Human Rights Day.

The campaign’s theme is “Every 10 minutes, a woman is killed. #NoExcuse. UNiTE to end violence against women.”

Nearly one in three women experiences violence during her lifetime, with teenage girls particularly vulnerable – one in four adolescent girls faces abuse from intimate partners.

🕙 Every 10 minutes.

❌ That's how often a woman is killed by an intimate partner or someone in her own family globally.

✋🏼 Let's stop this clock and UNiTE to end violence against women NOW.

There is #NoExcuse.

Read more: https://t.co/61GLkjKQ3v#16Days pic.twitter.com/lIvEILUQr2

— UN Women (@UN_Women) November 14, 2024

In 2023 alone, at least 51,100 women’s lives were ended by partners or family members in acts of femicide, representing the final, brutal culmination of gender-based violence.

The report highlights that femicides demonstrate the failure of systems meant to protect women and girls.

The normalisation of violence – from domestic abuse to workplace and public harassment and digital violence – has created a culture where women face deliberate abuse and murder, often with perpetrators going unpunished.

Women face the greatest risk of murder in their own homes, with 55% of all female homicides in 2022 committed by intimate partners or family members, compared to only 12% of male homicides by family members.

The threat extends beyond domestic settings. Women in public life, including politicians, human rights defenders and journalists, frequently face targeted violence both online and offline, sometimes with fatal consequences.

Studies indicate that between 16% and 58% of women globally experience technology-facilitated gender-based violence, with younger women particularly affected.

The situation is even more severe for women in conflicts, wars and humanitarian crises, where 70% experience gender-based violence.