Every ten minutes, a woman or girl is killed by someone in her own inner circle—a partner, a spouse, or a family member. This chilling reality, highlighted in the latest global reports, paints a devastating picture of the dangers women face within the very spaces where they should be safest. In 2024 alone, an estimated 83,000 women and girls were intentionally killed worldwide. Of these victims, a staggering 60 per cent—amounting to approximately 50,000 individuals—lost their lives at the hands of intimate partners or relatives. This translates to an average of 137 deaths every single day, a relentless cycle of violence that remains one of the most persistent human rights violations of the modern era.
The gendered nature of this violence is perhaps its most defining and tragic characteristic. While men are statistically more likely to be victims of homicide in general, the context of their deaths is vastly different. Only 11 per cent of male homicides are perpetrated by intimate partners or family members. For women, the home is often the most dangerous place they can be, whereas for men, the threat is typically found in the public sphere or through external conflicts. This disparity underscores a systemic failure to protect women and girls from those closest to them, revealing a deep-seated culture of control and entitlement that transcends borders and socio-economic lines.
Femicide, the intentional killing of women and girls because of their gender, does not occur in a vacuum. As Sarah Hendriks, Director of UN Women’s Policy Division, explains, these killings are frequently the culmination of a long and visible "continuum of violence." This progression often begins with behaviors that society sometimes dismisses or overlooks: coercive control, psychological manipulation, threats, and harassment. In the modern age, this continuum has expanded into the digital realm, where technology is increasingly being weaponized to track, shame, and terrorize women long before a physical confrontation ever occurs.
The 2025 UNiTE campaign, which marks the "16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence," places a spotlight on this digital frontier. The campaign emphasizes that digital violence is not a separate category of abuse but a catalyst that often precedes and facilitates offline harm. "Digital violence often doesn’t stay online," Hendriks noted. "It can escalate offline and, in the worst cases, contribute to lethal harm, including femicide." From the non-consensual sharing of intimate images to the use of deepfakes and gendered disinformation, technology has provided perpetrators with new, pervasive tools to isolate and degrade their victims.
The urgency of addressing this crisis is echoed by John Brandolino, acting Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Reflecting on the 2025 femicide brief, Brandolino described the findings as a "stark reminder" of the inadequacies in current global prevention strategies. He called for a fundamental shift in how criminal justice systems respond to femicide, advocating for approaches that account for the specific social and structural conditions that allow such extreme violence to flourish. "The home remains a dangerous and sometimes lethal place for too many women and girls around the world," he stated, emphasizing the need for legal systems that prioritize early intervention over reactive punishment.
Geographically, the scourge of femicide touches every corner of the map, though the intensity varies by region. According to the 2025 report, Africa recorded the highest rate of femicide committed by intimate partners or family members, with an estimated 3 deaths per 100,000 women and girls. The Americas followed with a rate of 1.5, while Oceania sat at 1.4. In Asia and Europe, the rates were lower at 0.7 and 0.5 per 100,000, respectively. However, experts warn that these figures likely represent only a fraction of the true scale of the problem. In many regions, the lack of robust data collection and the social stigma surrounding domestic violence mean that many gender-related killings are misclassified or go entirely unrecorded.
Closing this data gap is a primary objective for international bodies. UN Women and the UNODC are currently working with national governments to implement a 2022 statistical framework designed specifically to identify and record gender-related killings. By standardizing how femicides are classified, advocates hope to provide policymakers with the evidence needed to craft more effective laws and allocate resources to the areas where they are most needed. Without accurate data, the magnitude of the crisis remains partially obscured, making it harder to seek justice for victims and prevent future tragedies.
The 2024 estimate of 50,000 deaths at the hands of partners or family members is technically lower than the 51,100 victims estimated in 2023. However, experts are quick to clarify that this does not necessarily signal a downward trend in violence. Instead, the fluctuation is largely attributed to variations in data availability at the country level. In many cases, "lower" numbers are simply a reflection of less reporting rather than safer environments. This nuance highlights the critical importance of the 16 Days of Activism, which runs annually from November 25—the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women—to December 10, Human Rights Day.
In 2025, the campaign’s focus on digital violence reflects the rapid evolution of abuse in the 21st century. As our lives become increasingly intertwined with digital platforms, the opportunities for harassment have multiplied. Online stalking, the use of spyware to track a partner’s movement, and the creation of AI-generated deepfakes to ruin a woman’s reputation are no longer niche concerns; they are mainstream methods of abuse. These digital tactics are designed to maintain power and control, often leaving survivors with no sense of privacy or safety even within their own homes.
The UNiTE campaign is calling for a multi-pronged response to this evolving threat. It urges governments to strengthen legislation to specifically cover technology-facilitated violence and calls on tech companies to take greater responsibility for the safety of their platforms. This includes ending impunity for online perpetrators and ensuring that digital spaces are designed with the safety of women and girls in mind. Furthermore, there is a desperate need for sustained investment in digital literacy for the public and specialized training for law enforcement and judicial officials to recognize and act on digital red flags.
At the heart of these efforts is the belief that every woman and girl has an inherent right to safety—online, offline, and behind closed doors. Achieving this requires a systemic overhaul of how society views and responds to violence. It requires moving away from a culture that blames victims or views domestic abuse as a "private matter" and moving toward one that holds perpetrators accountable at the first sign of controlling behavior.
As the global community engages in the 16 Days of Activism, the message is clear: the current rates of femicide are not just statistics; they are a call to action. Each of the 137 women killed every day represents a life cut short, a family devastated, and a failure of the systems meant to protect them. To stop these killings, the world must recognize the full spectrum of violence, from the first threatening message sent via a smartphone to the final, lethal act of aggression. Only through early intervention, rigorous data collection, and a refusal to tolerate any form of gender-based abuse can we hope to close the door on this global crisis.
