No fewer than 464,000 people across the world were killed in homicides in 2017, surpassing by far the 89,000 killed in armed conflicts in the same period, according to the Global Study on Homicide 2019 published recently by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
Of this figure, 81 per cent of homicide victims recorded in 2017 were men and boys, and more than 90 per cent of suspects in homicide cases were men, according to the most recent estimates. However, the study shows that the gender disparity among victims changes with age.
The report also shows that girls and boys aged nine and under are killed at roughly equal rates, in marked contrast to all other age groups, in which males make up more than 50 per cent of the victims, according to data from 41 countries.
UNODC Executive Director Yury Fedotov said the Global Study on Homicide seeks to shed light on gender-related killings, lethal gang violence and other challenges, to support prevention and interventions to bring down homicide rates.
“Countries have committed to targets under the Sustainable Development Goals to reduce all forms of violence and related death rates by 2030. This report offers important examples of effective community-based interventions that have helped to bring about improvements in areas afflicted by violence, gangs and organised crime,” he added.
In all regions, the likelihood of boys becoming victims of homicide increases with age, although this process occurs at different stages. Men and male adolescents aged between 15 and 29 are at the highest risk of homicide globally. At the same time, nowhere are women and girls more likely to become victims of homicide than in Africa, predominantly at the hands of an intimate partner or a family member.
The study shows that the overall number of people who suffered a violent death as a result of homicide increased in the past quarter of a century, from 395,542 in 1992 to 464,000 in 2017. However, because the global population has risen faster than the increase in recorded homicide victims, the overall risk of being killed in homicides has declined steadily. The global homicide rate, measured as the victims of homicide per 100,000 people, declined from 7.2 in 1992, to 6.1 in 2017, according to the report.
It revealed that organised crime was responsible for up to 19 per cent of all homicides in 2017 recalling that since the start of 21st century, organised crime killed about as many people as all armed conflicts across the world combined. Like armed conflicts, organised crime destabilises countries, undermines socioeconomic development and erodes the rule of law.
According to the report, homicide rates vary widely between and within regions and the 2017 average global homicide rate (6.1) masks dramatic differences across regions.
“With 13 victims of homicide per 100,000 inhabitants, Africa’s homicide rate is well above the global average and second only to the rate of 17.2 in the Americas, whereas the rates in Asia, Europe and Oceania were below the global average (2.3, 3.0 and 2.8),’’ it said.
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