Femicide is the gender based killing of women and girls, and the most extreme form of violence against women and girls. The most common form of femicide is the killing of women by their male intimate partners (intimate partner femicide). The UNODC Global Study on Homicide estimates that 50,000 women and girls were killed by an intimate partner or family member in 2017 (UNODC, 2018, Booklet 5, p 13).
In recognition of the depth of this global problem, the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women has called for “femicide watches” to be established worldwide (A/71/398). Despite initiatives at the local, national and regional levels to ensure more comprehensive counting of femicide, we currently lack the comprehensive global data on femicide that is needed to reliably inform prevention and response.
Wendy O’Brien, Education for Justice initiative, UNODC, is joined by Kate Fitz-Gibbon, Director of the Monash Gender and Family Violence Prevention Centre and an Associate Professor in Criminology in the Faculty of Arts, Monash University, Australia, to discuss the importance of comprehensively counting femicide, as part of a broader strategy to end violence against women and girls.
Director of the Monash Gender and Family Violence Prevention Centre and Associate Professor in Criminology in the Faculty of Arts, Monash University (Victoria, Australia)
Assoc. Prof. Fitz-Gibbon conducts research in the field of family violence, femicide, criminal justice responses to family violence, and the impact of criminal law reform in Australia and internationally. Kate has advised on homicide law reform, family violence and youth justice reviews in several Australian and international jurisdictions. In 2016 she was appointed to the Victorian Government’s Expert Advisory Committee on Perpetrator Interventions and in 2018 she was appointed to the inaugural Board of Directors of Respect Victoria.
Find out more about Kate's research and the Monash Gender and Family Violence Prevention Centre.
Legal Officer, UNODC
Dr. O’Brien is Legal Officer on Violence against Children at UNODC. Wendy also works with the UNODC Education for Justice initiative and leads on the development of educational curricula to enhance tertiary teaching on crime prevention and criminal justice. In addition, Wendy is adjunct Associate Professor with Deakin University (Australia). In this capacity she publishes on topics of children’s rights, violence prevention, and human rights led law reform. Wendy’s co-edited book, Violence Against Children in the Criminal Justice System, was published by Routledge in 2020.
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