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Enough Is Enough: Latin America Has The Highest Numbers Of Femicides In The World.

 

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Of the 25 nations with the highest rates of violence against women, 14 are located in Latin America.

At the beginning of 2016, Latin America ranked as the region with the highest female murder rates worldwide, with El Salvador as number one with a rate of 8.9 homicides per 100,000 women. Colombia and Brazil follow closely with rates of 6.3 and 4.8, respectively. The cause of these unnecessarily high rates is not unknown; however, this phenomenon can be traced back to organized crime activities such as human trafficking and gang violence.

A study called “Violent and Abused,” which examines gender roles in gangs like the Maras, shows that women serve a dual role in gangs; while they may portray some characteristics typically associated to men and participate in violent tasks, they also are expected to uphold the “female role,” which entails cooking for the family, taking care of the children, and healing the sick. They’re also used as drug mules, gathering information from rival gangs and running illicit goods across jails and public spaces. These high-risk activities often caused women to be targeted and attacked by other gang members as well as, in some cases, the authorities.

Amado Philip de Andres, Representative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Regional Office of Central America and the Caribbean, declared that the femicide rate is highest in the human trafficking industry, especially for sexual exploitation, or sex trafficking, as they account for about 91 to 92% of the cases. Andres also stated that in many of these cases, women who are rescued or escape the imprisonment may be targeted and pursued by the criminal organization. If caught by the criminal organization, many women either face a reinduction into the trafficking trade or, in many cases, execution.

In an attempt to shed light on these tragedies and injustices, Latin American women in several countries started protests against gender-based violence and femicides in order to raise the public conscience and pay tribute to the victims. Protests are being organized all over Latin America against gender-based violence.

Just this month, on October 19th, Guatemalan women protested against the high femicide rates in their country, as since 2000, nearly 10,000 women have been murdered, and 90% of these cases have gone unpunished.

In Argentina, thousands of women gather under the slogan “Ni Una Menos” (not one less), and are propelled by the atrocious crime against Lucía Pérez in Mar del Plata two weeks ago. Pérez, a 16 year old student, was raped and murdered on October 8th after being kidnapped from her school.

“[The protest] intends to be a call to reflection for the entire population, so that each person evaluates his own practices and understands the need for a cultural change,” author and journalist Florencia Abbate explained to Argentine newspaper La Nación.

The Argentinian protest included a document called “Women Strike,” a declaration supported by thousands of women related to the cause which rejected gender violence, femicides, repression, abortion criminalization, and patriarchy.

“Latin America will be feminist throughout,” women chanted yesterday, conscious of the support received from Bolivia, Nicaragua, Chile, and Uruguay, among others. “In Latin America, we support ourselves between us, because all of Latin America will be Feminist. Against femicides and against the precariousness of our lives. Not one less. We want to live,” the document stated.

Our laws and society are continually evolving, yet violence against women and the violation of their rights is still as present as ever. Women’s rights seem to be constantly left behind. I can vote, which makes me part of society — but it is a society that looks down on me and makes me feel inferior and unprotected.

How is it right that someone who stole something gets a higher sentence than a person who destroyed another person’s life with rape? Where are laws protecting us from the people who take advantage of us and make us sexual slaves? Why is society pretending not to see the issue? We need better law enforcement. We need to protect our women not because they’re our mothers, sisters, and daughters, but because they’re human beings, part of our society, and part of our development as a country and a continent.

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