2022 Year in Review

IIngrid Escamilla, a 25-year-old, was killed by
her male partner in Mexico City. Her
alarming discovery found parts of her body
had been skinned, and organs removed.
26 year old Rita de Kássia Nogueira’s body
was found in an empty house in Bento
Ribeiro, Brazil. Her limbs were bound, and
lacerations were found on her body. Torture
wounds.
7-year-old Fatima Cecelia Aldrighett Anton
went missing in Xochimilco, Mexico City as
she was waiting to be picked up from school.
Her body was later found in a plastic bag
near Los Reyes, Tlahuac.
These are all too familiar narratives in
communities across Central America, the
Caribbean and South America.
The Economic Commission for Latin
America and the Caribbean reports that
an average of 12 women are murdered
a day across the region. In Mexico alone,
data shows that 3,825 women died
because of violence in 2021.
This is 10 women a day.
The violence perpetuated towards
women and girls in places like El
Salvador and Honduras are so extreme,
that it exceeds the combined rate of
male and female homicides of some of
the 40 countries with the highest
murder rates in the world (Ecuador,
Tanzania, Nicaragua).
While Latin America has battled with a longhaul
issue of gender-based violence, the
term ‘Femicide’ is a relatively new legal
concept to the region, and the laws defining
its legal conceptualisation are inconsistent in
scope and recognition.
SO, WHAT IS FEMICIDE?
Femicide is the intentional killing of women
and girls because of their gender,
overwhelmingly perpetrated by men. It
involves ongoing abuse in the home, threats
or intimidation, sexual violence, and
situations where women have less power
and fewer resources than their male partner.
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