Femicide is Rising, But Where’s the Outrage?

By Naila Aroni

October 28, 2024

Source: Africa is a Country

Activists and relatives of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei march calling for an end to femicide, 2024. Credit Andrew Kasuku / AP Photo

In Kenya, Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegi was brutally murdered—doused in petrol and set on fire by her ex-boyfriend just three weeks after returning from the Paris Olympics. In Switzerland, authorities recently revealed that Kristina Joksimovic, a former Miss Switzerland finalist, was killed by her husband, who confessed to the crime and allegedly dismembered her body and pureed it in a blender. In London, Cher Maximen was fatally stabbed in front of her daughter by a stranger while on her way to the Notting Hill Carnival.

Another day, another femicide globally. Although these incidents occurred separately, and these women live worlds apart, their deaths are tragically interconnected. While global homicide rates have generally declined, femicide has been steadily rising over the past two decades. In 2022, the UN recorded 89,000 cases of femicide globally, with 55% of these deaths caused by intimate partner violence or other perpetrators known to the victim. On average, this means that every 11 minutes, a woman or girl is killed somewhere in the world. In response to these troubling statistics, women across the globe have mobilized, with movements like #StopKillingUs in Kenya, #TotalShutdown in South Africa, and #NiUnaMenos in Latin America, fighting to end this violence.

Femicide is broadly understood as the killing of a woman or girl because of her gender—the most extreme form of gender-based violence. The 2012 UN Economic and Social Council’s Vienna Declaration on Femicide was the first to outline and recognize various forms of femicide, including intimate partner violence, targeted killings of women and girls in armed conflict, female infanticide, deaths related to genital mutilation, honor killings, and murders following accusations of witchcraft, among others.

Feminist scholars and activists have highlighted that femicide is not only about women and girls who have been killed, but also those who endure a continuum of gender-based violence, including ongoing violence, harassment, and assault. Academics Maya Dawsone and Saide Vega explain that femicide serves as a social barometer, reflecting the level of violence that women and girls experience, which may not always lead to death but can feel like a “slow death” for many. A contemporary example is the harrowing case of Gisele Pelicot in France, who discovered that her husband, Dominique Pelicot, had been drugging her for nearly a decade, inviting strangers to rape her in their home between 2011 and 2020 while filming the assaults as a form of “public revenge on men.” Pericot’s daughter describes the experience as a “slow descent into hell,” highlighting the horrifying sentiment of new cases of gender-based violence that emerge, challenging our perception of extreme violence.

While feminist movements have made significant strides in naming, recognizing, and advocating against femicide, it often seems as though the rest of the world remains disturbingly indifferent to this “silent pandemic,” carrying on with business as usual. The alarming rise in femicide, coupled with the relentless advocacy of feminists worldwide, makes it more urgent than ever to confront the root causes of this global epidemic of violence against women, and to take action to uproot it.

About 30% of women have experienced physical or sexual violence at least once in their lives. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) 2005 recognized that femicide is not “isolated, sporadic or episodic cases of violence; rather they represent a structural situation and a social and cultural phenomenon deeply rooted in customs and mindsets.” One structural cause of femicide lies in how states and governments enable these killings—either through inadequate responses or a complete lack of action. Significant gaps in data collection also hinder the fight against femicide. Most data is drawn from national crime statistics or homicide records, which are often not gender-specific due to inconsistent criminal justice reporting across countries. As a result, the actual global rate of femicide is likely much higher. In many countries the lack of digital records further exacerbates these challenges, creating additional barriers to accurate data collection.

Government failures continue to play a key role in facilitating femicide—particularly through the lack of legal responses to domestic violence. Rebecca Cheptegi’s family highlighted this state-sanctioned femicide when they revealed that they reported her ex-boyfriend to Kenyan police, but authorities failed to respond to their plea for help, a failure that might have prevented her death. Political and economic factors also drive this troubling trend as national economies shape power dynamics within households and the public sphere. Economic hardship, particularly, threatens men’s livelihoods and social status, often escalating violence. Many countries have reported links between women’s murders and factors such as male unemployment and lack of income.

Furthermore, patriarchal traditions and norms that reinforce male dominance and female subordination, combined with external economic pressures, can result in gender-based violence. The expectation that men should be the primary breadwinners is a key component of patriarchal norms. When women out-earn their male partners, some men may feel emasculated and attempt to “restore” their perceived loss of power or control through violence. It has been speculated that Rebecca Cheptegei’s ex-boyfriend may have killed her over a land dispute, reflecting broader tensions around women’s increasing financial independence. This pattern may also explain the deaths of other Kenyan female Olympians, such as Agnes Tirop, who was similarly the breadwinner of her family and was murdered by her husband. Women across all social classes remain vulnerable to the threat of femicide, including celebrities whose partners may feel threatened by their economic and social status as public figures.

Mainstream approaches to ending femicide have largely focused on legal solutions and the criminal justice system. One example is the push to classify femicide as a distinct crime—in 2022, Cyprus incorporated femicide into its criminal code, making gender-related killings an aggravating factor in sentencing. Although classifying femicide as a distinct crime can aid in advocacy, awareness, and harm reduction, it remains limited by the broader shortcomings of carceral approaches. This classification alone is unlikely to serve as a strong deterrent to future crimes, and in many cases, gender-based violence laws exist but are poorly enforced.

Abolitionist feminists argue that criminalization is ineffective at protecting women but productive at reproducing harm. In Kenya, for example, conviction rates for sexual assault and rape are extremely low. Studies illustrate that only 6% of reported rape cases result in convictions. Contributing to the low conviction rates are factors such as policy inefficiencies, mishandling of DNA, lack of post-rape counseling and resources, and cultural stigmas. A carceral feminist politic, which relies on policing, prosecution, and imprisonment as the primary responses to gender-based violence, is ultimately myopic and can even be situationally dangerous for the victims seeking redress.

Effective measures seek to address the underlying socioeconomic inequalities and precarious conditions that contribute to violence against women. This includes providing financial support, accessible shelter, and economic empowerment for women reporting violence. For instance, cash transfer programs in low- and middle-income countries have shown a positive correlation between women’s income and lower rates of domestic violence. A successful example is South Africa’s IMAGE Programme (Intervention with Microfinance for AIDS and Gender Equity), which equips women with microfinance to enhance their economic independence. Additionally, governments must increase social spending on health and education to alleviate the burden on households, particularly the unpaid domestic labor that disproportionately falls on women.

Lastly, education and community outreach efforts must not only be inclusive of women but should also actively engage men, boys, and all other victims of patriarchal norms. Such education can dismantle deep-rooted cultural beliefs and harmful misrepresentations, like “boys will be boys” or the myth that a woman’s choice of dress justifies sexual assault. The Swedish government has consistently invested in educational programs aimed at addressing gender violence, including re-socializing boys by integrating gender equality into school curriculums. These efforts have contributed to Sweden’s relatively low levels of intimate partner violence and femicide, fostering a more gender-equal society.

Each day, cases of femicide remind us that ignorance of violence against women is deadly. Legal reforms, while essential, are not enough to end this crisis. To truly combat femicide, we must dismantle the deep-rooted inequalities, patriarchal norms, and systemic failures that sustain it. Femicide is not just a feminist issue, it’s everyone’s problem, and more people should be outraged. The time for action is now.

Naila Aronii is a writer and artist from Nairobi, Kenya.

‎December 6 anniversary: Media must be an integral part of the fight against femicide‎

Thu., December 9, 2021, 8:47 a.m.

‎People attend a rally on the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women in Canada on Parliament Hill.‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick‎‎ ‎

‎On December 6, 1989, in a misogynistic gesture of extreme violence, fourteen young women were shot dead at ‎‎the École Polytechnique of the Université de Montréal.‎

‎Although perpetrated by one man, this mass femicide stems from a social environment marked by gender inequality, misogyny, colonialism, racism and other intersectional phenomena of oppression.‎

‎Femicide — the murder of a woman or girl because of her gender — is no coincidence. Although the media often portray femicide as spontaneous "crimes of passion," when a man kills his partner, it is the culmination of a history of violence ‎‎in more than 70% of cases‎‎ — and more frequently the result of controlling behavior of a criminal nature.‎

‎Femicide is also ‎‎more premeditated, compared to the murder of a non-intimate partner.‎‎ Therefore, many of these deaths are preventable, and we must use all the tools at our disposal to increase public awareness of the phenomenon and improve prevention strategies.‎

‎ Read more: ‎‎Polytechnique, 30 years later: a first anti-feminist attack, finally named as such‎‎ ‎

‎Engaging decision-makers‎

‎Public health efforts during the Covid-19 pandemic have illustrated the importance of spreading a clear message, making room for science and holding political leaders and social institutions to account in order to save lives.‎

‎As these efforts continue, we will once again mark December 6, the ‎‎National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women,‎‎and reflect on the pandemic of male violence that continues to take the lives of many women and girls around the world.‎

‎A woman gathers near the Women's Monument in London, Ontario, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the 2014 Polytechnique massacre.‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Dave Chidley‎‎ ‎

‎Part of our work at ‎‎the Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Accountability‎‎ is to monitor this extreme form of sex- or gender-based violence. As the Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted, the ‎‎media play a vital role‎‎ in informing us about threats – how they define themselves, what aspects deserve our attention or how to address a particular issue.‎

‎In short, the media frame the problem and propose solutions. To this extent, the media can be a key mechanism for primary prevention, as long as they provide an accurate representation of the problem.‎

‎The media have a crucial role to play in the coverage of femicides, not only in raising awareness and general education, but also ‎‎by actively participating in the construction of attitudes and beliefs‎‎ that can contribute to prevention efforts.‎

‎In contrast, harmful portrayals, such as those depicting this type of murder as an ‎‎isolated act or the work of a single person,‎‎have the effect of shining a ‎‎spotlight on the victims' behaviour‎‎ and suggesting (implicitly or explicitly) that they are responsible for their own deaths or ‎‎marginalizing certain groups.‎‎ because of their race, religion, socio-economic status, participation in the sex trade, sexual orientation or other factors.‎

‎There is also the question of those who are not represented at all. The ‎‎"missing white woman syndrome"‎‎ is a good illustration of the media bias in which White victims, usually from privileged backgrounds, ‎‎receive significant coverage,‎‎while the case of missing and murdered Indigenous or non-white women and girls is considered to be of lesser interest to society. As a result, some women and girls remain invisible, in life as well as in death.‎

‎Girls gather for the annual Women's Memorial March in Vancouver in February 2021, an event held in memory of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. The route is punctuated by stations in various places where women were last seen or found.‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck‎‎ ‎More
‎

The importance of media coverage of femicide‎

‎When it comes to accurately informing the public, the way journalists portray femicide is therefore of paramount importance. Indeed, media coverage of femicide ‎‎helps to address broader issues related to violence against women‎‎ and, in so doing, to raise public awareness of these crimes, their underlying societal causes, consequences and implications.‎

‎Such media coverage may include terms specific to femicide, statistics on the number of women killed by their intimate partners, support resources for victims of domestic violence, or new sources of expertise that are better qualified to treat femicide, including those who provide primary care, are involved in advocacy and research.‎

‎In addition to providing a deeper context, supported by empirical data, this type of coverage has the power to raise public awareness of the problem. Instead of reporting femicide as isolated incidents, it sheds more light on community and societal solutions.‎

‎These may include funding services for victims of violence, prevention education initiatives, legislative reforms or cultural changes, such as targeting attitudes that support or normalize violence against women.‎

‎As we honour the memory of women and girls who have died as a result of violence in Canada, we can take a critical look at how their stories are told in the media, as well as how they tell us about their deaths. We can take our analysis beyond police reports and ‎‎cultural references surrounding femicide,‎‎drawing on the experience and expertise of survivors and people who have lost a loved one to violence.‎

‎It is possible to deviate from sensational and explicit reports and stop insinuating that the gestures, behaviors or lifestyles of the victims may have contributed to their deaths.‎

‎Femicide is a tragic loss. It is a gesture of extreme violence directed against women. This is a violation of human rights and a real public health issue. However, in order to accurately portray this crime, the media must take all these aspects into account.‎

-----

Yasmin Jiwani, Professor of Communication Studies; Research Chair on Intersectionality, Violence and Resistance, Concordia University, 

Myrna Dawson, Professor and Research Leadership Chair, Sociology, University of Guelph, Jordan Fairbairn, Associate Professor, Sociology, King's University College, Western University,

Ciara Boyd, PhD Student, Sociology, University of Guelph

‎Jordan Fairbairn receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.‎

Ciara Boyd, Myrna Dawson, and Yasmin Jiwani do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

ORIGINAL IN FRENCH Anniversaire du 6 décembre : les médias doivent faire partie intégrante de la lutte contre les féminicides (yahoo.com)

TAJÊ: Against femicide, be the voice of self-defense

The Freedom's Movement of Êzidî Women launched a new international campaign against femicide.


WOMEN CAMPAIGN AGAINST FEMICIDES
ANF
NEWS DESK
Wednesday, 13 March 2024

The Yazidi women's liberation movement TAJÊ has launched an international campaign against femicide and for the self-defense of women worldwide.

This campaign, which kicked off on 8 March, aims to bring together voices of women and women's organizations until August 3, the tenth anniversary of the genocide and femicide in Shengal.

TAJÊ invites everyone to participate using a variety of methods, such as photos, videos, texts, songs, poems, rallies and demonstrations.

The manifesto for the campaign names five central demands of the Yazidi women's movement. TAJÊ demands that femicide be recognized as a war crime and that all perpetrators and supporters be convicted. Women's right to organized self-defense must find social and institutional acceptance. The massacre committed by ISIS in Shengal ten years ago must be officially classified as genocide at all levels and prosecuted accordingly. TAJÊ also calls for the recognition of the self-administration and security forces established in Shengal after 2014 as the legitimate representation and defense of the community. The cessation of all attacks on Yazidi society, especially the air raids by the Turkish state, is also called for as necessary for survival.

The manifesto reads as follows:

"To the women of the world,

As TAJÊ (Tevgera Azadiya Jinên Êzidî), the Freedom's Movement of Êzidî Women in Şengal, we send our warmest greetings and respect to all the fighting and resisting women in the world. To all those women standing up against the violence against our bodies and souls. To all those women organizing to make a better life possible. To all those women defending their lives, lands and cultures.

The times we live in are marked by brutal wars and inhuman violence. As women, we are beaten, raped, sold, killed and burned. Our lands are occupied and nature destroyed. However, with every new attack, our global resistance and struggle against war, violence and femicide is growing. This gives us hope and strength. Our pain and our resistance is one.

For us as Êzidî women, the year 2024 is a special year. It marks the 10th anniversary of the genocide and femicide committed by the so-called Islamic State (Daesh) in Şengal. On August 3rd, 2014, tens of thousands of Êzidî were murdered, abducted and taken as slaves. Children were forcibly recruited as child soldiers. On top of that, hundreds of thousands of inhabitants of Şengal were expelled from their homeland. Our holy places were blown up and tens of buildings were detonated. However, despite all the difficulties and dangers, hundreds of families remained on the soil of Şengal, took up weapons and resisted against Daesh. They participated in the offensive to liberate Şengal and created their own protection forces, called Yekîneyên Berxwedana Şengalê (YBŞ; Şengal Resistance Units) and Yekîniyên Jinên Şengalê (YJŞ; Şengal Women's Resistance Units).

In all massacres and genocides, women are the ones suffering most. The assimilation and killing of women are frequently adopted as a means to wipe out the identity, culture and belief of a society. When, in 2014, women fell into the hands of Daesh, they were raped, sold as slaves and/or forced into marriage with jihadist fighters. Until today, 2.941 persons, most of them women and children, still remain in the hands of Daesh. The genocidal and femicidal attacks against Şengal are a cruel wound in all our hearts. We assess these attacks as the brutal face of patriarchal violence and therefore as attacks against all women.

We do not accept that, so far, no state and institution has judged Daesh and its accomplices, such as the Turkish State or KDP, for the systematic attacks carried out against the people of Şengal. On August 3rd, 2014, Şengal’s security was under the responsibility of the KRG (Kurdistan Regional Government) and its ruling party, KDP (Kurdistan Democratic Party). However, when Daesh attacked the first villages, 12,000 PDK-peshmerga left Şengal without shooting a single bullet and delivered our people to Daesh. We demand that the responsibility of all forces will be proved and convicted.

The genocide and femicide of August 3rd, 2014 caused lots of pain, trauma and deep losses within our community. However, today this pain is the soil for our resistance. Many fighters have lost their lives for the sake of defending our land and people. We call them Şehîds. They are our light and hope.

After 2014, the people in Şengal organized in all fields of life based on the thoughts of Abdullah Öcalan. As Êzidî women we built the Freedom's Movement of Êzidî Women in Şengal called TAJÊ with the philosophy of JIN JIYAN AZADÎ. With proudness we can say that the mothers of Şengal are at the forefront of our resistance. We are organized in women's councils and work in the fields of culture, health, economy, press and diplomacy.

Our history is a history of struggle and resistance but also a history of 74 genocides. It taught us that we cannot trust in the protection of other forces. After the genocide of August 3rd, 2014, we therefore built our own protection forces, YBŞ, YJŞ and Asayîş Êzidxan (a security structure to meet the daily security needs of the population). YJŞ is a woman’s-only military force and our greatest honor. Today, as Êzidî women, we know how to self-defend. This is our revenge against all the pain we suffered.

However, also ten years after the genocide and femicide, the attacks against our people continue. The Turkish state, with the support of the KDP, is continuously committing air strikes against members of our military forces as well as against civilians. Dozens of our brothers and sisters have been killed in these airstrikes since 2017. Furthermore, the Iraqi state as well as the KDP are trying to abolish our self-organization and self-administration in Şengal through diplomatic pressure and their agreement of October 9th, 2020.

We claim that all suppressed people, societies and beliefs have the right to defend themselves against the danger of genocide and femicide. We consider the self-defense of the people and women of Şengal – that in other ways would be eliminated – as the only legitimate one.

As the freedom movement of Êzidî women, TAJÊ, and the Şengal Women's Resistance Units, YJŞ, we carry out an active struggle against nationalism, religious fundamentalism and especially against sexism, so that in the future no women, people or community of belief will ever again have to face genocides and femicides. We believe that in the countries we live in, we will only reach democracy, freedom and peace if we as women lead the way on the basis of self-determination and free will.

The best response against the atrocities carried out against the Êzidî women is the solidarity and worldwide organization of women.

We therefore declare that the year 2024 will be marked by raising our voices against femicide and for self-defense.

We demand:

1. That femicide will be recognized as a war crime and that all perpetrators are convicted of committing or supporting the systematic killing of women.

2. That the right of women to organize for the defense of their lives, lands and culture will be accepted by all people and institutions.

3. That the genocide of August 3rd, 2014 in Şengal will be offcially recognized as a genocide. This also indicates, that the responsibility of all perpetrators and supporters, including ISIS, KDP, Turkey and Iraq will be proved and convicted.

4. That our self-administration in Şengal as well as our protection forces YBŞ, YJŞ and Asayîş Êzidxan will be accepted as the legitimate representation and protection of our people.

5. That all attacks against our people in Şengal, especially the airstrikes committed by the Turkish state, stop.

From March 8th, International Women’s Day, until August 3rd ,the tenth anniversary of the genocide in Şengal, we will therefore collect the voices, signatures and participation of various women and women’s organization to call on all women across the globe:

Let us unite our voices in the spirit of JIN JIYAN AZADÎ. Let us raise them against femicide and for self-defense.

Together we will demand accountability for the massacres of women in Şengal and every other place on earth."

Croatia becomes third EU country to pass femicide law

In Croatia, with a population of 3.8 million, 13 women were murdered in 2022, 12 of them by a close relative, and 9 in 2023.


FEMICIDE
ANF
NEWS DESK
Thursday, 14 March 2024

Croatia became the third country in the European Union to give femicide a separate legal status.

"With these amendments, we are protecting the rights, safety and dignity of women and sending the message that violence against women is unacceptable," Croatia's conservative Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said in late February when presenting the proposed law.

The text adopted by parliament stipulates that sentences could range from 10 to 40 years in prison, the maximum penalty under Croatian law.

The amendments to the penal code were adopted with 77 MPs voting in favor and 60 against, the official Hina news agency reported.

According to local NGOs, Croatia has the third highest per capita femicide rate in the EU.

According to EU data, 2,300 women were murdered by their husbands or family members in Europe in 2022.

In Croatia, with a population of 3.8 million, 13 women were murdered in 2022, 12 of them by a close relative, and 9 in 2023.

The government decided to propose this law after the murder of 20-year-old law student Mihaela Berak in September by a police officer with whom she had a brief affair.

Mihaela Berak's death sparked a heated debate about the failures of a system designed to protect victims and the law itself. Demonstrations were organized across the country to demand justice for Mihaela and to call for femicide to have a legal cover.

Prior to Croatia, Cyprus and Malta also gave femicide a separate legal status.

Black women in London facing ‘crisis’ as higher femicide rates revealed

By Jamel Smith, PAMon 27 May 2024 at 17:01


Black women in London are said to be facing a “crisis”, with higher rates of femicide in the capital than other ethnic groups, figures suggest.


Femicide broadly refers to the killing of a woman or girl because of her gender, highlighting the issue of violence targeted specifically at females.

Southall Black Sisters, an organisation dedicated to assisting society’s most marginalised victims of abuse, said that while the findings are “really shocking,” it sadly does not come as a surprise that there is a disproportionate impact on black women.

The figures have been obtained by the PA news agency from the Metropolitan Police in a Freedom of Information request. They show that:




Femicides recorded by the Metropolitan Police, by ethnicity

– Of the 21 femicide victims recorded by the Metropolitan Police in 2022, nine (43%) were black while eight of the 13 victims in 2023 (62%) were black.

– These figures suggest black women are being disproportionately targeted when compared with the ethnic breakdown of the female population of London, where just 14% are black, according to the 2021 census.

– By contrast, four of the 21 victims in 2022 were white, along with one of the 13 victims in 2013, while white women make up over half (53%) of London’s female population.

– The pattern was different in 2021, however, with 25 femicide victims recorded by the Met, of whom 20 (80%) were white and three (12%) were black.

Met Police data also shows that sharp instruments were the most common method for killing the victims, being used in 13 of the 25 femicides recorded in 2021, 16 of the 21 in 2022 and seven of the 13 in 2023.

The Femicide Census, a database providing detailed information on women killed in the UK and their perpetrators, criticised the Met Police and the Mayor of London, saying they “simply don’t care enough” about femicide.

Clarrie O’Callaghan, 49, from the Femicide Census, told PA that there has been a “woeful disregard” for the experiences of black and minoritised women in London.


She added that despite multiple freedom of information requests, the Met Police for nearly a decade has never provided them with data similar to that provided to the PA until this year.

She said: “The fact that they (Met Police) have steadfastly resisted giving us the data… it’s a good indicator to say, where are their priorities, where do they want to focus attention.”

Selma Taha, 52, from Southall Black Sisters, said: “Racism and sexism are deeply entrenched in the UK’s system. At the intersection of race and sex, black women are disproportionately impacted and failed as a result. Black femicide is a form of violence against women and girls (VAWG) that reflects these prejudices, both in the act of violence and in the systemic response to it.

“Why is the value of black women’s lives so obsolete, they’re facing a crisis… we need politicians and the police to step up.”

Commander Kevin Southworth, who leads Public Protection for the Met, said: “We take violence against women and girls in all its forms extremely seriously and are dedicated to being open and transparent with our data.

“We provided data for all women who had been killed between 1 January 2021 and 31 December 2021 to the Femicide Consensus – the data that was not released was due to families who did not wish for the victims’ data and details to be shared in any form.

“We are committed to protecting those who are at risk, regardless of their ethnicity or faith, and understand that communities are affected in different ways. We work with victim-survivors, charities and partners to listen to, transform and improve our response to all victims.”

A spokesperson for Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said: “The Mayor is committed to ensuring that ending the epidemic of violence against women and girls is treated with the utmost urgency both by our police, and society as a whole.

“Sadiq has invested a record £163 million as part of his public health approach to tackle violence against women and girls, which includes targeted funding to support community organisations working with women and girls from black, Asian and minority-ethnic communities and other minoritised groups, including the LGBTQ+ community.

“But there is more to do, which is why the Mayor has prioritised a new comprehensive 10-point plan to tackle offending and fund new free independent legal advice for survivors of rape and serious sexual offences so that they can receive the vital support they need and deserve.

“And is supporting the ‘New Met for London’ plan, to overhaul the way the force deals with offences involving women and girls. This includes providing better training for officers, more resources for specialist investigative teams and focused action on the worst offenders so we can build a safer London for all.”

Femicides rising in Canada as a woman or girl is killed every 48 hours, shows report

More than 800 women and girls have been killed since 2018, according to the Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Accountability.


Chris Stoodley
·Lifestyle and News Editor
Sun, April 2, 2023 

Femicide cases are drastically increasing in Canada, according to a new report that details hundreds of women and girls have been killed over the past five years.

In a report released on Thursday, the Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Accountability (CFOJA) indicated that at least 850 women and girls have been killed since 2018.

"That means, at least, one woman or girl is killed by violence every two days," the CFOJA noted in its report. "One woman or girl is killed every 48 hours. Where information is known, men are the majority of those accused."

There were at least 184 killings in 2022, the highest number the organization has seen since it began documenting these deaths in 2018. The number of killings that year was 169, and has been growing each year since 2020.

While 2019 saw a slight drop to 148 killings, there were 172 deaths in 2020 and 177 a year later.

One highlight in this year's report shows there was a 27 per cent rise in deaths involving male suspects in 2022 compared to 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 184 deaths noted in 2022 were tallied up from 170 cases. Eighteen of those cases do not have an accused suspect. For the other 152 cases, there were 173 people accused.

Out of the cases where the accused were identified, 82 per cent were male suspects and 18 per cent were female suspects.

For the 150 women and girls killed by male accused in 2022, the type of relationship between the parties were known for only 89 victims, or 59 per cent. Out of those, 52 victims — or 58 per cent — were killed by a current or former intimate partner.

For familial femicide, there were 20 cases in 2022 involving 24 victims and 20 accused.

Non-intimate femicide cases — where the relationships are primarily between acquaintances or strangers — accounted for 11 cases in 2022. Of those, there were 13 victims and 12 accused.

"We really wanted to address the issue so there would be better understanding publicly," Myrna Dawson, founder of the CFOJA and University of Guelph professor, shared in a news release.

On March 30, commissioner Michael MacDonald said it's time for men to start doing their part in acknowledging and calling out gender-based violence for what it is — an "epidemic." Femicide cases across Canada have reached a new high in 2022.

 (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darren Calabrese)

Advocates have been pushing for the federal government to include femicide in the Criminal Code of Canada, while some have called on provinces to address intimate partner violence.

In the final inquiry report for the 2020 Nova Scotia mass shootings, the Mass Casualty Commission urged the government to recognize "gender-based, intimate partner and family violence as an epidemic."

The CFOJA's report indicates there are 20 countries — including Brazil, Argentina and Mexico — that have legislated the term "femicide," or used it to classify some offences.

Out of 35 countries, Canada is one of three that has not committed to the 1994 treaty, "Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence Against Women," according to the release.

"This is one example of how Canada lags behind other countries in its response to male violence against women and girls," Dawson added.

Inquiry into N.S. killings calls for bold change to tackle family violence 'epidemic'


Sun, April 2, 2023 

OTTAWA — The public inquiry into the April 2020 shootings in Nova Scotia is calling for an overhaul of the way society handles the "epidemic" of gender-based, intimate-partner and family violence.

In addition to creating better supports for victims of such violence, the Mass Casualty Commission says governments should pass laws to abolish mandatory arrest and charging policies.

Canadian law requires police to lay charges of assault in cases where they have reasonable grounds, regardless of the victims' wishes.


The commission says a "prevention-oriented public health approach to violence" should be adopted, which includes treatment for perpetrators.

And it says there must be a recognition that many men who commit mass violence have a history of domestic violence, and many mass killings begin with an attack on a specific woman.

One Halifax-based advocate says achieving what the report recommends will require bold, transformative and necessary change.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 2, 2023.

The Canadian Press

FEMICIDE

Mexican Mom Faces Loss, Corruption And Impunity In ‘A Nation That Kills Ladies’

Jan 17, 2023



Based on the United Nations, excessive charges of femicide, mixed with a poor monitor report in bringing perpetrators to justice – notably the wealthy and highly effective – have made Mexico probably the most harmful nation for ladies in Latin America. However a grieving mom is set to seek out justice for her murdered daughter, in opposition to the chances.

At 8:35 p.m. on June 18, Saturday, Patricia Garcia acquired a name telling her that her daughter, Frida Santamaria Garcia, had been injured and was within the hospital.

Frida had spent the day working in a reception corridor the place a christening was happening, her mom recounted in a cellphone interview from Sahuayo, a metropolis within the western Mexican state of Michoacan.

“I instantly known as her relative, who labored along with her, to ask if he knew something. He known as my daughter’s cellphone, nevertheless it was her pal, Juan Paolo N., who answered,” García mentioned.

When she arrived at Santa María Sahuayo Hospital, García realized her daughter had been shot. She is instructed that Frida was left for lifeless after her cellphone was stolen. The bullets pierced the younger girl’s lung and liver.

“It was probably the most horrible second of my life,” mentioned Garcia. “A couple of minutes later, the physician instructed me that my daughter had died.”

Frida, at 24, nonetheless had her complete life forward of her when she was brutally quick with a firearm.

Her grieving mom mentioned, “She was a really humble particular person with an enormous coronary heart. She cared for the well-being of her household and pals. She was unconditional and dependable. She was distinctive.”

Frida’s pal denied involvement in her loss of life. However on December 15, Juan Pauls abruptly retracted his denials and admitted that he shot his girlfriend, saying it was not supposed.

His retraction and the delay in his confession prompted the Jequilpan Regional Public Prosecutor’s Workplace to cut back the fees in opposition to him to homicide.

This gave the accused the best to a abstract authorized trial and he was sentenced to a few years’ imprisonment with the opportunity of parole. The punishment for involuntary manslaughter in Mexico is rather more lenient than for these accused of femicide.

On this nation of almost 127 million individuals the place, in line with the authorities, greater than 10 girls are murdered day-after-day, the Frida Santamaria García case is one other instance of the challenges households of the victims face of their pursuit of justice.

Frida’s relationship with Juan Paulo started three or 4 months earlier than her homicide, in line with her cousin, Samantha Morett García. “She discovered about their affair solely every week earlier than she was shot,” Samantha revealed in a cellphone interview from Jiquilpan.

Whereas the Garcia household was grieving the sudden lack of Frida on the night of the tragedy, Juan Paulo had already left town and fled to Guadalajara, the capital of the neighboring state of Jalisco.

It was the start of a harrowing authorized impediment course for the sufferer’s household. The case file submitted within the days following her homicide on the Public Prosecutor’s Workplace in Jiquilpan didn’t advance the case. “He did not even inform me I had a proper to see a sufferer counselor,” García mentioned, revisiting the agonizing days when the household, shocked and agonized by their sudden loss, first confronted the restrictions of Mexico’s justice system.

The companies of a personal legal professional wouldn’t be sought till 5 weeks had elapsed, lastly permitting the investigation to proceed. “We realized that the investigation was not completed correctly, neither in substance nor in kind,” mentioned the sufferer’s mom.

The household finally sought the assistance of NGOs, together with the feminist group MAPAS, who suggested the household to talk to the press and arranged demonstrations calling for justice for Frida. The group denounced the shortage of correct police studies or witness statements. In the meantime, the Public Prosecutor’s Workplace insisted on treating her case as a attainable suicide.

When the suspect is the son of a former mayor within the Frida case, there may be one other necessary reality that can not be ignored: the accused, Juan Paolo, is the son of the previous mayor of town of Sahuayo, Alejandro Amezcua Chavez. Alfredo Annaya’s son-in-law, former Secretary for Financial Improvement within the authorities of the Governor of Michoacan State.

Mapas was fast to denounce the “cynicism” with which the judiciary is dealing with the case in opposition to a well-connected suspect.

“Till January 1, Santamaria Garcia’s household and the feminist group MAPAS believed that the state legal professional normal’s workplace was working to get justice for Frida,” mentioned Sofia Blanco, a spokeswoman for the group.

“We now know that since December 20, she has been working to reclassify this feminine homicide as ‘manslaughter’, with out informing the household or their lawyer, in order to not give them time to problem the choice earlier than the listening to scheduled for January 4,” she mentioned. .

The Feminist Affiliation additionally denounced the silence surrounding the case. Neither the legal professional normal nor the governor of Michoacán state has spoken out in favor of the decision [classifying this crime as] Blanco mentioned.

When the suspect is the son of a former mayor

It additionally denounced the Michoacán State Superior Court docket for failing to “make sure the sufferer due course of” and for doing nothing to forestall the prosecution from decreasing the fees.

In a press launch tracing the authorized twists and turns of the case, García’s household famous that “At present, in Mexico, an individual convicted of femicide can obtain a jail sentence of as much as 50 years; within the case of manslaughter, he faces three years in jail with Risk of parole.”

“We subsequently perceive why Juan Paulo’s father and son-in-law acted with impunity and corruption, to redefine and cut back the fees associated to this crime.”

Per week after it was introduced that the fees for her daughter’s killer had been diminished, García mentioned she had appealed the choice, regardless of the threats the household and several other witnesses confronted, and regardless of makes an attempt to torpedo the case by individuals associated to the suspect.

‘Whole injustice’ Mexico’s worsening disaster of gender violence and the state’s failure to reply has led protesters and activists to dub the nation the ‘femicide nation’.

Based on official figures, about 3,750 girls had been murdered and almost 100,000 disappeared in Mexico in 2021. Of those murders, just one,004 have been investigated as “femicide.” This failure has been denounced by NGOs corresponding to Amnesty Worldwide, who say the shortage of prosecutions leads to “violations of girls’s human rights to life, bodily integrity and their households’ rights to judicial safety”.

Mexico’s Nationwide Fee for the Prevention and Elimination of Violence In opposition to Ladies (CONAVIM) has estimated that 94% of those courtroom instances have been dismissed.

“Investigations are usually not carried out in line with the intercourse of the sufferer, they aren’t adopted up, and corruption prevents the killers from bringing the killers to justice,” Blanco defined.

On January 4, demonstrators gathered outdoors a courthouse in Morelia, the capital of the state of Michoacan, declaring that each homicide of a lady that goes unpunished is one other instance of Mexico being a “femicide nation.” They demanded the utmost sentence for Frida’s alleged killer, and all different victims of the ladies’s murders.

“The Jiquilpan Public Prosecutor’s Workplace and the Public Prosecutor’s Workplace most popular to guard Juan Paulo’s security,” Frida’s mom mentioned at a press convention that day. “Now he could be launched on parole. It is a full injustice.”

A protester in Mexico Metropolis holds an indication that reads, in Spanish, “Mexico isn’t a rustic, it’s a mass grave with a nationwide anthem” protesting violence in opposition to girls on March 8, 2021. © Rebecca Blackwell, AP’s 

“Cotton Subject” challenge

 Regardless of the shortcomings of the Though there is no such thing as a public prosecutor’s workplace or the judicial system, femicide convictions in Mexico do exist. “In terms of killing girls by individuals whose households have political energy, all the pieces will get sophisticated,” Blanco mentioned, referring to the 2020 case of Jessica González Villasenor, who was murdered and whose alleged killer, Diego Orek, was from a rich household. with political connections.

The younger man, who was 18 on the time of the crime, lived within the rich Altozano neighborhood of Morelia. SinEmbargo, a Mexican information web site that makes a speciality of investigating hyperlinks between energy and arranged crime, describes him as a “mirrey,” a slang time period used to explain a younger man from a rich household who lives a lifetime of luxurious, partying, and extra. The sufferer was a instructor from a working class household.

On January 11, Aurick pleaded not responsible. The decision is anticipated on January 27. If discovered responsible, he might resist 50 years in jail. If not, he will likely be launched.

“He has already taken all the pieces from us, and no punishment will carry my sister again to us,” Cristo Villasenor, the sufferer’s brother, instructed El Heraldo de Mexicodaily. Nevertheless, he famous, if the utmost sentence had been to be handed down, it might set a precedent.

“It must be a mannequin for society, particularly for misogynistic males who assume they’ll take girls’s lives with out paying the implications,” he mentioned.

Corruption and impunity are the 2 principal causes for the excessive charges of femicide, in addition to the variety of disappearances, for ladies in Mexico. In 2009, the Inter-American Court docket of Human Rights issued a landmark ruling condemning the nation’s negligence in investigating the deaths of eight ladies who had been tortured, raped, and murdered and located a vacant lot in Ciudad Juárez, a metropolis in northern Mexico that has been known as the femicide capital of the world.

The decision of what grew to become referred to as the “Cotton Subject” affair included a powerful rebuke to the Mexican authorities, forcing it to take motion. Since then, a number of committees have been set as much as get rid of violence in opposition to girls and a particular public prosecutor has been appointed.

However as said within the January 2020 report, “Can a regulation finish femicide in Mexico?” , regardless of “praising a brand new regulation designed with a gender perspective, which ensures a life freed from violence for all girls… it’s being perpetrated with impunity throughout the nation. Authorities and police establishments proceed to look the opposite method, or in some instances are themselves concerned on this new kind of criminality.

Mexico is probably the most harmful nation for ladies in Latin America and holds the unlucky report for the very best variety of femicides within the area, in line with the United Nations. However again in 2007, Mexico pioneered the inclusion of femicide in its penal code, stating: “The crime of femicide is dedicated by anybody who deprives a lady of her life for causes of intercourse.”

The Latin American Mannequin Protocol for the Investigation of Gender-Associated Homicides of Ladies recommends that each one violent deaths of girls attributable to felony motives, suicide, and accidents be analyzed from a gender perspective to find out whether or not or not there are gender-related causes. Explanation for loss of life.

After the loss of life of Frida Sahoyo, family and pals of Juan Paulo requested, amongst different issues, {that a} gender perspective not be utilized to the investigation.

“What’s ‘gender-neutral’ justice on earth? Justice for all besides girls?” requested Blanco, of the MAPAS group, in feedback to native media.

“We characterize half the inhabitants!”

This text has been translated from the unique in French.

Mexico’s Gender Violence Crisis Is Far From Over — & Women Are Demanding Action

Nidia Melissa Bautista 3 days ago

On September 2, Marcela Alemán, the mother of a four-year-old girl who was sexually abused in San Luis Potosí, tied herself to a chair for more than 12 hours inside Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission building. Alemán occupied the offices after a meeting with the human rights ombudsman, where her demand for the detention of her daughter’s abusers yielded no real support. Alemán isn’t alone in her struggle; her daughter is among the one in four girls and one in five women who face sexual violence in a country where 10 women are murdered every day.

Erika Martinez arrived at Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission the following day along with local activists to support Alemán, carrying photos of her young daughter, who at seven-years-old was sexually abused by a family member. For three years, Martinez has advocated for her daughter, demanding the detention of the perpetrator, but has only been met with institutional indifference and violence. A year after filing the criminal complaint, and still not detained by authorities, the alleged abuser attacked Martinez, fracturing her nose and continuing to harass her. Alemán ended the sit-in and eventually left the building after reaching an agreement with authorities on her demands but on September 4, Martinez, along with a handful of activists from feminist collectives including Mexico’s Ni Una Menos and the Bloque Negro (or Black Block), decided to seize control of the human rights commission office. Having read their list of demands, they entered peacefully asking workers to vacate the building and the occupation grew to include several dozen activists and families. For Martinez, occupying the human rights commission would apply pressure to a government reluctant to confront a country in the throes of a gender violence crisis.

“I was sick of waiting for answers from institutions that never came,” Martinez told Refinery29. It’s been nearly three months since activists first occupied the building, and although only a few dozen women and children remain, Martinez said she plans to stay until all demands are met, including a commitment by the federal government to eradicate gender violence in the country. “We need authorities to meaningfully enforce laws already put in place against gender violence,” she added.

Mexico has struggled with a femicide epidemic for decades, and every year an interminable series of vicious murders of young girls and women shakes the country. In February, the murder of 25-year-old Ingrid Escamilla in Mexico City shocked the country after pictures of her skinned body appeared on the front page of a local paper and on social media. A week after Escamilla’s murder, Fátima Cecilia Aldrighett Antón, a 7-year-old girl, was found dead inside a plastic bag after she was kidnapped outside of her school and sexually assaulted. These are just two stories from ongoing horrific murders that have sparked protests across the country and fueled discontent among women exasperated by the femicide crisis that makes every day a struggle for survival.

Among the women that joined the occupation was Yesenia Zamudio, mother of 19-year-old María de Jesús “Marichuy” Jaimes Zamudio, a Mexico City university student who died after falling from a fifth floor window in 2016. Her death was classified as a femicide, and Zamudio says Marichuy was murdered.

“What I know now, from the experts’ analyses and investigations, is that Mary was a victim of gender-based violence. She was assaulted,” Zamudio said in an interview earlier this year. “She fell. No one helped her. Then, they left her to bleed out.” Mexican authorities haven’t made arrests in connection with Jaimes Zaumudio’s death, while Mexico City’s Human Rights Commission found that the case was poorly investigated. Zamudio, leader of the Ni Una Menos group, has since left the occupation after disagreements with Bloque Negro about the administration of donations and leadership of the action.

© Provided by Refinery29 

MEXICO CITY, MEXICO – 2020/02/14: Several feminist demonstrators take part in a protest against gender-based violence against women after the murder of Ingrid Escamilla, 25, stabbed to death and then skinned by her partner in the north of Mexico City at Reforma Avenue in Mexico City, Mexico. 

(Photo by Carlos Tischler/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Femicides in Mexico have increased by 145% in the last five years, and only about 8 percent of cases get prosecuted. Under a sweeping gender law passed in 2007, every murder of a woman must be investigated as a femicide and officials must investigate for circumstances that include sexual violence, domestic violence, and whether the victim’s body was exposed or displayed in public. Femicide is a crime in Mexico that carries a 45- to 65- year prison sentence. The federal penal code also says any public servant that delays or hinders the prosecution or administration of justice will be sentenced to three to eight years in prison. This law also extends protections to women and girls that experience sexual violence. But in practice, more than 90 percent of all crimes and about half of femicides last year were unsolved, according to a study released this month.

“Many women have suffered violence, they have followed the legal channels, but they also get tired. They are not listened to. They are not attended to. Their demands are ignored,” says María Salguero, creator of the National Map of Femicides in Mexico database.

Using news alerts and local news sources for reports of femicides, Salguero started the database four years ago, and it has since become an important source for understanding the scale of femicide in the country. From her findings, Salguero says gender violence has only gotten worse. “When I started, between six to seven women a day were murdered according to official figures and now it’s almost 11. 

"The violence has grown.”

Though Mexico has passed laws against gender violence, Mexico’s president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, has downplayed the severity of the crisis in recent months as women and relatives of victims grow impatient with the country’s failure to adequately address gender violence. As violence against women has surged, Obrador has slashed the budgets of agencies charged with addressing gender violence. The government administered a 75% budget cut this year for the National Institute for Women, which is responsible for promoting gender equality in the country. Lopez Obrador has also repeatedly minimized the issue of gender-based violence. In a press conference earlier this year, he said that 90% of calls to the emergency services over domestic violence were “false.” In a press conference in July, when asked about the budget cuts in light of the femicides, Lopez Obrador has said that “women in Mexico have never been so protected.” When asked about the brutal murder of seven-year-old Fátima Cecilia Aldrighett Antón, Lopez Obrador blamed femicides on what he called “neoliberal policies,” a response that garnered frustration from feminists who consider the administration insensitive and condescending in the face of femicide.

Martinez echoes other activists who have said government inaction is an open invitation for more violence. “It’s easy for them to ignore us, to silence us, to say victims of gender violence don’t exist, but this leads to more violence,” she said. “Because abusers see the president himself opening a door, by ignoring the severity of femicide statistics and of the violence, who’s to say the government will do anything to stop it?”

Mexico’s inadequate response to rising femicides has led to a surge in protests against gender violence this year. On March 8, for International Women’s Day, at least 80,000 women in Mexico City joined together to demand an end to gender violence. Feminist collective Brujas del Mar called for a national strike on March 9, and hundreds of thousands of women across sectors stayed home to protest violence against women. Protests, including a march for the legalization of abortion in September and the occupation of the human rights commission building, have continued during the coronavirus pandemic. For Dia de Muertos (or Day of the Dead) protestors, including many relatives, mounted altars calling attention to femicide throughout the country — adding an entirely new conversation to the traditional holiday.

This surge of protests have been met with police repression in various Mexican cities. The occupation inspired activists in other cities to take similar actions, but in nearby Ecatepec in Mexico State, activists were violently evicted and harassed by police. Earlier this month, police opened fire on protesters at Cancún’s City Hall during a demonstration against the murder of 20-year-old Bianca “Alexis” Lorenzana. Two journalists suffered gun wounds and some protesters were beaten by the police. Silvia C., a member of various feminist organizations in Cancún, was at the protest and recalls the terror of having to flee when shooting ensued. “We went to ask for justice and they welcomed us with bullets,” said Silvia.

“The repressions of the demonstrations and protests of women have been increasing in their brutality and forms of repression,” she adds. “It’s not by chance that this is just another form of institutional violence against women.”

In Mexico City, Salguero said the occupation of the human rights commission is a condemnation against institutional inaction in the face of intensified gender violence. “The takeover of the CNDH is historic because who should be protecting women has failed to do so,” said Salguero.

Having emerged spontaneously thanks to the action of a small group of relatives of gender violence victims, the occupation has since dwindled in numbers because of rifts and internal disputes among groups. In October, Bloque Negro said they no longer welcomed transgender women, and LGBTQ+ organizations publicly withdrew their support. Representatives from the human rights commission have met with Martinez and other activists to negotiate an end of the occupation, promising to turn the building into an institute for women, but weeks have passed since they’ve last communicated with officials. While officials seem to cater empty promises, and rifts emerged among protestors, the occupation reflected the frustration of living in a country where gender violence is perpetuated with impunity.

Relatives of gender violence victims and feminists continue to demand action from a government that so far has fallen short to provide any justice through the legal system. “The violence is unstoppable,” says Salguero. “I can’t go one day without receiving news about a femicide. The government says it’s protecting women while femicide numbers spike. We are simply demanding that the law be followed. We’re not asking for special treatment.”

Martinez said she doesn’t plan to rest until there’s justice for victims of gender violence. “Justice for me previously meant seeing the person who harmed my daughter, who stole her childhood, imprisoned. But today, after three years of fighting, the meaning of justice has changed for me,” she said on her 77th day in the occupation. “Justice is seeing all women have lives free from violence.”

THE WAR ON WOMEN
'We are not safe anywhere': Egyptian women fear systemic normalisation of gender-based violence and femicide


A series of horrific cases of femicide and grievous bodily harm against women in Egypt in the last two months have caused outrage across the region.

Yousra Samir Imran
19 July, 2022

Shock, fury, heartbreak, and outrage; these are the sentiments women in Egypt have felt over the past two months since the day 21-year-old university student Nayera Ashraf was stabbed to death outside her university in Mansoura as she was on her way to her final exams.

“Women in Egypt are outraged and furious, and I think most people are in incomplete shock, but Egyptian women no longer feel safe,” Egyptian feminist and former TV and radio broadcaster, Reem Ayed, tells The New Arab.

“When you think about it, Nayera Ashraf was murdered outside of campus, and it’s terrifying because your university is like your second home – when you’re a university student, you end up spending more time on campus than you do at your own home. The two places that you’re supposed to feel the safest are your own house and your school.

"The fact she was murdered right outside her school is terrifying because it means that safe place is no longer safe for women. Egyptian women never felt safe on the streets, to begin with, so now it’s even worse.”

"There were 415 violent crimes committed against girls and women in Egypt in 2020, 113 cases of women murdered as a result of domestic abuse, and a total of 165 cases of femicide"

Nayera’s murderer Mohammed Adel, who has been sentenced to death by hanging, was a man who had been stalking her for some time after she refused his marriage proposal.

According to Egyptian news outlet Cairo 24, Adel’s neighbours said he had never caused any trouble and they only heard him when he was beating his mother and sister, exhibiting the social acceptance of a man who was known to have been committing acts of violence against his female family members.

The murder of Nayera Ashraf had a knock-on effect. Just a couple of days later, the Arab world was shaken once more when nursing student Iman Irshaid in Amman, Jordan, was shot five times outside her campus at the University of Applied Sciences. Her murderer, 37-year-old Uday Abdullah Hassan, reportedly sent her this text message the day before:

“Tomorrow I am coming to speak to you and if you don’t accept I am going to kill you just like the Egyptian killed that girl today.”

He died by suicide after refusing to surrender himself to the Jordanian authorities.

A woman carries a placard that reads in Arabic "A man cares about his mother, sister, daughter and wife" during a rally to eradicate gender-based violence and exploitation of women and children [Getty Images]

Within days of Nayera’s murder, Egyptians woke up to the news that missing TV presenter Shaima Gamal’s body had been found on a farm in Giza – she had been murdered by her husband, a judge, her face burned with acid in an effort to disguise her identity.

His judge immunity has been lifted and he is to be trialled in a criminal court. And if this isn’t enough, in June a woman in the district of Halwan in Cairo was stabbed by her husband 20 times followed by having her right ear cut off. When asked why he did it, her husband said, “because she does not listen to what I say.”

The murders of Nayera Ashraf and Iman Irshaid are reminiscent of those of Farah Akbar in Kuwait and Noor Mukadam in Pakistan just last year, whose murderers took their lives after having their proposals rejected.

"A woman in the district of Halwan in Cairo was stabbed by her husband 20 times followed by having her right ear cut off. When asked why he did it, her husband said, 'because she does not listen to what I say'"

Similar to the case of Farah, Nayera and her family had made repeated formal complaints to the Egyptian authorities. In both Akbar and Ashrafs’ cases, the authorities failed to keep them safe, leading to their deaths.

Yet sadly neither the authorities in Kuwait nor in Egypt have been held accountable for their part in failing to take action.

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These acts of femicide are not new to Egypt. In October 2020, three men sexually assaulted 24-year-old Mariam Salah and then proceeded to attempt to steal her handbag, dragging her to her death with their microbus.

Two of the men were sentenced to death and the third was acquitted. And last year, three men broke into a 34-year-old woman’s flat in El Salam district in Cairo for receiving a male visitor, torturing her visitor and then terrorising her to the point she reportedly jumped off the balcony of her 6th-floor apartment and died.

However, her body was found lying on the floor outside another building, making the claim that she threw herself off unclear. The men were charged with unlawful imprisonment and thuggery, not with murder.

What this all proves is that targeted gender-based murders and violence have become systemic in Egypt, something that Amira Salah-Ahmed, Chief Media Officer and Executive Producer at Womena, agrees with.

In a public statement following Nayera’s murder, Amira said, “Nayera Ashraf’s murder cannot be seen as an isolated incident, but needs to be accurately portrayed as part of a dangerous narrative that normalises gender-based violence.

"The dangerous cultural narrative not only discriminates against women on a daily basis but goes further to normalise gender-based violence by depicting it lightly or comically as entertainment in all forms of media. Patriarchal and misogynistic mindsets are further cemented by these fatal narratives that are brought directly into our homes. This is worsened by the lack of legal frameworks to protect women who actively seek protection from authorities.”

"When we look at a country like Egypt or Jordan... you’re socialised into waiting to get married until you have sex. Because of patriarchy in South West Asia and North Africa, men have much more leeway when it comes to this; they are able to express their sex drive in ways that women can’t"

Gathering statistics on cases of femicide and the numbers of girls and women subjected to gender-based violence is a mammoth task in Egypt.

The Edraak Foundation for Development and Equality is one of a few reliable organisations that has undertaken this incredibly difficult task.

In their report issued last year, they estimated that 7.8 million girls and women in Egypt have experienced some form of gender-based violence.

There were 415 violent crimes committed against girls and women in Egypt in 2020, 113 cases of women murdered as a result of domestic abuse, and a total of 165 cases of femicide in that same year.

In the days following Nayera Ashraf and Iman Irshaids’ murders, some on social media referred to their murderers as incels. However, Arab writers and academics have disagreed with the use of this term which has been created by the West to describe men who find themselves involuntarily celibate and as a result target women with misogynistic abuse and violence.

An Algerian activist holds a placard reading in Arabic "The future is female" during a rally in Algiers [Getty Images]

Egyptian American feminist, journalist, and author of The Seven Necessary Sins for Women and Girls, Mona El Tahawy, tells The New Arab that there is an important distinction that needs to be made between incels in the West, and men like Nayera Ashraf and Iman Irshaids’ murderers.

“When it comes to sex and the ability to express one’s self sexually and openly, we’re talking about very different cultural contexts, because today for most people in the so-called West, you can have sex with whoever you want whenever you want and it’s a different scenario in Egypt, in Jordan, and in what we now call South West Asia and North Africa,” explains Mona.

“There’s much more taboo connected with it, there’s much more shame, there’s much more silence, so it is a different playing field. When we look at a country like Egypt or Jordan and other countries in the region, you’re socialised into waiting to get married until you have sex. Because of patriarchy in South West Asia and North Africa, men have much more leeway when it comes to this; they are able to express their sex drive in ways that women can’t, so it's a different kind of involuntarily celibate men," Mona continues.

“These men in Egypt and Jordan believe that women must succumb to their advances, these women owe them their attention and their love, and if they don’t, then these men believe – because patriarchy protects and enables men’s violence against us – that they have the right to punish women. And there is nothing in our societies that holds those men accountable.”

The outpouring of rage and anger from people in Egypt following Nayera’s murder meant that her murderer’s trial and conviction was one of the fastest ever seen in Egypt’s Criminal Court, as murder cases tend to take months or even years to reach a verdict.

However, this is not the norm, and the Egyptian legal system is greatly lacking when it comes to laws that punish femicide and acts of gender-based violence. In fact, terms such as “misogynistic hate crime” and “femicide” are not recognised.

Article 60 in the Penal Code allows a perpetrator of domestic violence to be pardoned if he “acted in good faith,” and Article 17 allows a judge to lower a sentence for rape or an honour killing as an act of “mercy,” although recently there has been talk of Article 17 being abolished.

Furthermore, when you are living in a country where the state itself commits acts of gender-based violence against women, such as the sexual violence and forced virginity tests perpetrated by the military during the Arab Spring in 2011 and anti-military protests in 2014, it is no wonder that men like Nayera Ashraf’s murderer kill so brazenly and with such impunity.

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“It is essential that we identify these violent men, while not forgetting that femicide is an act fuelled by misogyny and the absence of laws that view women as equal citizens. We cannot stop at blaming these men, or calling them incels, without working to dismantle the larger patriarchal system we live in,” says Huda Jawad, Co-Director of Musawah, the global movement for equality and justice in the Muslim family.

For over a decade Musawah has been campaigning for reform to personal status laws and family laws in both Egypt and other Muslim-majority countries.

“It is important to note here that we do not yet see femicide as a crime in our region. We do not differentiate between the act of killing and the act of killing a woman because of the sole fact that she is a woman, so the penal code is lacking when it comes to femicide.

"We hope we will be able to get justice for these women. We also hope that we start building a collective discourse on femicide that translates into systemic and legal efforts. At Musawah, we believe equality and justice are necessary and possible and we know that the time for this change is now."

Yousra Samir Imran is a British Egyptian writer and author who is based in Yorkshire. She is the author of Hijab and Red Lipstick, being published by Hashtag Press in the UK in October 2020

Follow her on Twitter: @UNDERYOURABAYA