Femicides in Peru

According to Peru's National Statistics Institute 2014 survey, 32.3% of Peruvian women had at some point experienced physical violence from a spouse or partner,[2] and 11.9% had experienced such in the previous 12 months.[3] The country's national human rights ombudsman's office has estimated that every month 10 women are killed by their partners.[4]

A 2015 study by the same office revealed that from January 2009 to October 2015, 795 femicides were committed, but the courts had issued only 84 sentences between 2012 and 2015.[5] In 81% of the cases of attempted femicide no measures were taken by authorities to protect the survivor, and 24% of women who turned to the justice system for help were later murdered by the very men from whom they had sought protection.[5]

In 2017, between January and September there were 94 femicides, 5,707 sexual assaults and 21,000 assaults. Of the 5,707 sexual assaults, 71.33% of victims were children.[1]

A recent study[6] on intimate femicides in Peru, identified two main risk factors that increase the likelihood to pass from attempted femicide to femicide: past psychological violence and premeditated violence. Between the two, the former had the strongest statistical effect. Reporting a previous aggression did not affect the probability of being a victim of femicide. The same study estimated the Years of Life Lost (YLL) due to premature mortality caused by feminicides. This estimate represented 16,567 years lost between 2011 and 2015. This study used the official data (2011-2015) from the Ministerio de la Mujer y Poblaciones Vulnerables (Registro Administrativo de las Fichas de Feminicidio y Tentativa del MIMP).

• Gender-based violence in Peru
• NiUnaMenos (Peru) — A Peruvian movement against violence towards women