Madrid, Nov 25 (EFE). – The streets of the world’s most important cities were filled with demonstrations on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, the most widespread human rights violation that, according to the United Nations, affects one in three women.
The demands of these marches were joined by messages from leaders, institutions, and social organizations that called for joining forces to achieve a future of equality where women can live free and without fear.
The President of the United States, Joe Biden, in an institutional statement described the violence that thousands of women and girls around the world continue to suffer as an “abhorrent human rights abuse.”
In his speech, the US leader stressed that “despite our progress, the scourge of gender-based violence continues to inflict pain and injustice on too many.”
“An estimated one in three women worldwide will experience physical violence, rape, or stalking at some point in their lives. That’s an outrage,” he added.
Europe, far from reflecting reality
Violence against women and girls remains one of the most unpunished crimes in Europe and an obstacle to the advancement of women’s rights, according to international organizations and women’s groups.
The European Union (EU) estimates that 22% of women have suffered physical or sexual violence at the hands of their partners, and 43% have experienced psychological violence.
However, these data does not reflect the full reality, as the majority of cases go unreported and figures have not been consistently updated.
Since 2014, there have been no surveys at the European level to give a more accurate picture of the violence that many women face in their daily lives.
Moreover, each EU country has its own legislation on the matter, so the crimes that fall under the umbrella of gender violence vary from one country to another, making it difficult to compare and quantify them.
In Spain, for example, the number of sexist murders has already reached 52 in 2023. According to the Department of Gender Violence of the Ministry of the Interior, these crimes have increased by 29% in the country since data began to be recorded in 2003.
To denounce these figures, Spanish feminism took to the streets, but divided, demonstrating once again their differences, in two marches that took place at different times and were attended by representatives of the government.
Latin America: Girls and working women’s face violence
In Latin America, one of the regions with the highest rates of femicide in the world, women also made their voices heard.
Hundreds of Venezuelans dressed in outfits simulating butterfly wings marched in Caracas on Saturday under the slogan “Woman: life and freedom”.
The march was led by feminist activists, NGOs and political parties opposed to the government, who demanded “full equality” from the state and an end to violence against women.
According to the NGO Utopix, a femicide is recorded in the country every 43 hours.
Figures are also very high in Colombia, where at least 410 women were victims of femicide between January and September 2023, an average of 52 cases per month, according to figures published on Saturday by the Attorney General’s Office.
The report, which included data provided by the National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences, said at least 36,626 cases of domestic violence against women were reported in the first nine months of the year, including 27,327 cases of violence by intimate partners.
Peru will end 2023 with more femicides than in 2022, in a year in which discrimination against women took on a childish aspect with highly publicized cases of sexual abuse against minors, feminist organizations denounced.
The march in the Andean country for Saturday demanded more strategies from the authorities, an end to violence against women, but also recalled the cases of abuse of girls.
In Guatemala, hundreds of women took to the main streets of their capital to demand justice for thousands of victims of violence and freedom for those politically persecuted.
Women marched through the center of the Guatemalan capital carrying banners with portraits of judges, journalists, prosecutors and activists who have been persecuted for denouncing corruption in their country.
Between 2019 and 2023, at least 30 women who worked in the judiciary or as journalists have gone into exile, claiming to be victims of “political persecution” by the Public Ministry.
In Chile, the demonstration began on Friday evening with hundreds of women marching through the center of Santiago shouting “Not one step back” to demand more action against sexist violence and greater civic engagement against this scourge.
According to the Chilean Network Against Violence Against Women there have been 40 femicides in the southern country in 2023.
In Costa Rica, demonstrators wearing purple scarves, carrying banners and shouting slogans such as ‘not one less” and “we want each other alive”, marched peacefully through the main avenues of San José to demand more protection from the state and more action against the aggressors.
So far in 2023, the Gender Violence Observatory of the Judicial Branch of Costa Rica recorded 68 violent deaths of women, 15 of which have been confirmed as femicides, and another 44 have not yet been classified.EFE
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