Femicide in Latin America

Insight Crime takes a look at femicide in Latin America, which is the highest in the world.

A recent report by a number of international organizations (pdf) revealed that seven out of the ten countries with the highest female murder rate in the world are in Latin America. El Salvador heads the list with a rate of 8.9 homicides per 100,000 women in 2012, followed by Colombia with 6.3, Guatemala with 6.2, Russia with 5.3 and Brazil with 4.8. Mexico and Suriname are also in the top ten.

The article explores several possible reasons, such as organized crime. The problem, however, is that organized crime is serious in many different parts of the world. So what is constant and what is varying? Human trafficking is likely a variable, especially when you connect it to migration toward the United States.

More broadly, take a look at the table on p. 27 with the international statistics. Uruguay is fairly high on the list, which surprised me. Honduras is not on the list at all, and given its overall homicide rate it must be high. Then there are countries like Kuwait and Tunisia that report a 0% rate, which strains credulity.