SANTIAGO, Chile (CMC) – The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) says that in 2022, at least 4,050 women were victims of femicide (also known as feminicide) in 26 countries and territories in the region.

Femicide is the killing of a woman or girl, in particular by a man, on account of her gender.

ECLAC said in a new report that the information is based on the latest data that official agencies reported to its Gender Equality Observatory for Latin America and the Caribbean (GEO).

“This is equivalent to one gender-related killing of a woman every two hours in the region,” said ECLAC, stating that “it is not possible to identify an upward or downward trend in the rates of femicide or feminicide in each country, since the variations are small and do not reflect an increase or decrease in the problem.”

However, the United Nations regional organisation stressed that “it can be affirmed that femicide persists in the region, despite greater public awareness, legislative advances, progress in the measurement of cases and the state response.”

ECLAC said that, of the 19 countries and territories in the region that reported the number of femicides or gender-related killings of women in 2022, the highest rates were seen in Honduras (6.0 per 100,000 women), the Dominican Republic (2.9) and El Salvador and Uruguay (1.6).

The lowest rates, meaning less than 1 victim per 100,000 women, were observed in Puerto Rico and Peru (0.9), Colombia (0.8), Costa Rica (0.7), Nicaragua (0.5), Chile (0.4) and Cuba (0.3), ECLAC said.

In the Caribbean, it said 46 women were victims of lethal gender violence in the seven countries and territories that provided information corresponding to 2022.

The highest number of cases by far was in Trinidad and Tobago (43), ECLAC said.

“We will not get tired of saying this: Latin America and the Caribbean has a duty to prevent and eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls,” said ECLAC’s Executive Secretary José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs just before the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, which is commemorated each year on November 25 and launches 16 days of activism through to December 10, which is International Human Rights Day.

“It is unacceptable that more than 4,000 women and girls are murdered each year in our countries on the basis of gender,” Salazar-Xirinachs added.

In the context of his official visit to Chile, ECLAC said United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres participated in one of the commemoration and awareness-raising activities that ECLAC and the UN System in the country carry out each year in the framework of the UNiTE by 2030 to End Violence against Women campaign.

Launched in 2008, ECLAC said this initiative calls on governments, civil society, women’s organizations, young people, the private sector, media and the UN system to join forces to prevent and eliminate “this true global pandemic.”

ECLAC said the theme this year is “UNITE! Invest to prevent violence against women and girls.”