Last year, more than a third of women killed across the world died at the hands of a partner or family member. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), who released a report on the gender-related killing of women and girls yesterday, even though men are more likely to be the victims of homicide, a majority of women (58%) who are murdered knew the person who did it – be it a former or current partner or a close family member. Internationally, six women are killed every hour by people they knew, with women victims accounting for 82% of intimate partner homicides.

Despite a collective effort to reduce the number of women killed by family members or lovers, the rate of gender-related killings of women and girls is not declining. (The report, covering both homicide and femicide, says the rate is “stable” – meaning it hasn’t gone down or up.) More alarmingly, the rate of femicide — an internationally recognized term for gender-based hate crime — has been on the rise since 2012. Many of the victims of femicide are killed by their partners, fathers, brothers, mothers, sisters, and other family members “because of their role and status as women.” Femicide is up 30% in Israel, and in Italy, a women dies because of her gender every two days.

UNODC Executive Director Yury Fedotov said much more needs to be done to eradicate the levels of gender-based violence faced by women: “Targeted criminal justice responses are needed to prevent and end gender-related killings. UNODC is releasing this research for the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women 2018 to increase understanding and inform action.”