Local and regional governments against gender-based violence: intimate partner violence and feminicide

On 22 June last, the Department of Seine Saint Denis (France) and the CSIPDHR) organised a webinar on “Local and regional governments against gender-based violence: intimate partner violence and feminicide”, in the framework of the international programme “Caring territories for women victims of violence“, launched in November 2021.

The webinar brough together members and partners of Seine-Saint-Denis and the Committee to exchange on the role of local and regional governments and their public policies on two aspects of the fight against violence against women: intimate partner violence and intimate feminicide.

Worldwide, 1 in 3 women have experienced physical and/or sexual violence from their intimate partner. Intimate partner violence is defined as situations where the acts of violence are recurrent, often cumulative, worsening and accelerating. Violence can be psychological, sexual or physical. The latter is one of the most dangerous, as the aggressor may even kill the victim.

A feminicide (or femicide) is the deliberate killing of a woman because of the fact she is a woman. It is estimated that out of 87,000 women worldwide who were intentionally killed in 2017, more than half of them (58%) were killed by their partner or family members. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, this means that – on average – every day 137 women worldwide are killed by a member of their family, more than a third of them by the partner or ex-partner.

In view of the scale and complexity of the problems associated with violence against women, local and regional governments have become increasingly involved in the fight against intimate partner violence and feminicide, particularly through prevention and protection actions; as well as through the creation of data and through cooperation at different levels of government. This has led to the development of targeted measures, but also to the implementation of public policies on violence against women at the local level, promoting the empowerment of local and regional governments in this fight.

During the webinar, participants discussed on how to promote exchange between local and regional governments and highlighted good practices to address intimate partner violence and intimate feminicide. Ultimately, the webinar contributed to identify priorities and challenges of local and regional governments in this fight; which will lay the ground for advocay actions in the framework of the international programme “Caring territories for women victims of violence”.

Download the report  of the webinar here