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A new study by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and UN Women shows that, on average, more than five women or girls were killed every hour by someone in their own family in 2021.

The report comes ahead of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on November 25 and is a horrific reminder that violence against women and girls is one of the most pervasive human rights violations worldwide, the UN said.

Of all the women and girls intentionally killed last year, some 56 per cent were killed by intimate partners or other family members (45,000 out of 81,100), showing that home is not a safe place for many women and girls. Meanwhile, 11 per cent of all male homicides are perpetrated in the private sphere.

Globally, an estimated 81,100 women and girls were killed intentionally in 2021. The overall number of female homicides has remained largely unchanged over the past decade. This underscores the urgency for stronger actions with which to prevent and respond to this scourge.

Even though these numbers are alarmingly high, the true scale of femicide (referring to the killing of women simply because they are women) may be much higher, as too many victims of femicide still go uncounted. Given inconsistencies in definitions and criteria among countries, for roughly four in ten women and girls killed intentionally in 2021, not enough information is recorded to identify the killings as femicide, especially if they happen in the public sphere.