Joselinne's One Thousand and Eighty-Five Stories

Joselinne Abigail Jimenez was only 23. She lived in southern Guatemala, in the municipality of Moyuta, department of Jutiapa. As told in the local press, Joselinne left her two children at home to get food at a nearby store. According to her sister, her partner pursued her, complained that she had not spent new year’s with him and then fired several shots. “We went out to take a look, and she was already dead,” said the sister. This happened on January 1, 2021. Joselinne was probably the first woman victim of violence in all of Central America and the Dominican Republic. Another one of the 1,085 accounts of violent deaths of women and girls in the subregion that year.

One femicide more, one life less. Joselinne exemplifies a repeated pattern. The data shows that in most cases a young woman, with an abusive husband or life partner, is murdered with extreme violence and as the result of unequal power relations. This Data for Action analyzes the behaviour of violent deaths of women and girls in the subregion during 2021. National institutional data, some of it preliminary figures, point to significant gains, although there are also gaps that persist.

 

The lights: Decline in the total number of violent deaths of women and girls

The subregion exhibits a downward trend in the total number of violent deaths of women and girls since 2015, when there was a rebound in the trend. As seen in figure 1, homicides and femicides/femicides have decreased by close to half (-40.8%) over the last six years. However, when data is compared by sex, the reduction in male homicides was a greater (-47.7%) over the same period. In absolute figures, these continuous declines since 2015 have saved 8,694 lives. However, there are still many female victims of homicidal violence, too many.

An analysis of data on the types of violence, such as sexual, physical, psychological, that women and girls were subject to during the lockdown in Central America and the Dominican Republic, shows that Costa Rica, Guatemala or Honduras experienced a rebound in expressions of violence then. This situation repeated at the global level, with over 45% of women reporting that they, or someone they knew, had experienced some form of violence since the beginning of the pandemic, according to the UN Women study "Measuring the Shadow Pandemic: violence against women during COVID-19."

 

Graph 1. Reduction in violent deaths of women in Central America and the Dominican Republic (2011-2021)

Source: calculated by UNDP InfoSegura with data from Belize, BPD (2010-2021); Costa Rica, OIJ (2010-2021); El Salvador, PNC and MJSP (2010-2020) and preliminary PNC data (2021); Guatemala, INE (2010-2020) and PNC validation by INE pending (2021); Honduras, IUDPAS (2010-2012), Working Group on Violent Deaths (2013-2020) and provisional data provided by the Working Group on Violent Deaths (2021) and; the Dominican Republic, (OSC-RD, now the Centre for Analysis of Citizen Security Data - CADSECI) (2011-2021).

 

If we zoom in to analyse the behaviour of violent deaths of women and girls in each country, we see that this behaviour differs from one country to another. El Salvador shows a marked reduction (-76.9%) since 2015. Honduras (-31.0%) and Guatemala (-31.1%) are among the other countries that have been improving. However, there are countries such as Costa Rica (31.0%), Belize (22.2%) and Dominican Republic (10.9%) where there was a rise in the number of cases.

 

Graph 2. Rate of violent deaths per hundred thousand population

Source: calculated by UNDP InfoSegura with data from Belize, BPD (2010-2021); Costa Rica, OIJ (2010-2021); El Salvador, PNC and MJSP (2010-2020) and preliminary PNC data (2021); Guatemala, INE (2010-2020) and PNC validation by INE pending (2021); Honduras, IUDPAS (2010-2012), Working Group on Violent Deaths (2013-2020) and provisional data provided by the Working Group on Violent Deaths (2021) and; the Dominican Republic, (OSC-RD, now the Centre for Analysis of Citizen Security Data - CADSECI) (2011-2021).

 

The available information seems to indicate that the actions state institutions have implemented for prevention in recent years have been contributing to consolidate this downward trend. Similarly, the different awareness campaigns regarding this issue are making a significant contribution to preventing and eradicating violence against women and girls.

 

The shadows: Young people and femicides

Violence in Central America and the Dominican Republic has a young face. As with male homicides, young women are more likely to become victims of violent death. Almost half (49%) of the victims in 2021 were between the ages of 18 and 34, with the highest risk among the 18-24 age group. This characteristic is maintained over time, as shown by the analyses carried out in previous years.

Graph 3. Violent deaths of women (VDW) by age (2021)

Source: UNDP InfoSegura calculations with data from Belize, BPD (2014-2021); Costa Rica, OIJ (2014-2021); El Salvador, PNC and MJSP (2014-2020) and preliminary PNC data (2021); Guatemala, INE (2011-2020) and PNC, INE validation pending (2021); Honduras, Technical Inter-Institutional Coordination Unit/Subsecretariat for Security (2014-2020) and estimates based on preliminary data from SEPOL (2021): The Dominican Republic (OSC-RD) (2014- January-September 2021).

 

Femicides/femicides deserve particular analysis.  Globally, according to data reflected in a recent UNODC study, the rate of femicides/femicides was 1.2 per 100,000 women in 2020 while for Latin America and the Caribbean 14 out of 26 countries register rates above the global rate. Available data for the sub-region reveal a continued drop in femicides / femicides (84.7%) between 2013 and 2020. However, it is striking that, in the first year of analysis, femicides accounted for 71% of all violent deaths. This same figure for femicides did not reach 55% in 2020. Are there really fewer femicides/feminicides, or perhaps they are not typified or counted as such?

Figure 4. Femicides/feminicides and violent deaths of women

Source: UNDP InfoSegura calculations with data Costa Rica, OIJ (2013-2020); El Salvador, PNC and MJSP (2013-2020); Guatemala, INE (2013-2020); Honduras, Technical Inter-Institutional Coordination Unit/Subsecretariat for Security (2013-2020) and IUDPAS (2013-2020); The Dominican Republic (OSC-RD) now Centre for Analysis of Citizen Security Data or CADSECI (2013-2020).

 

Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5 seeks to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. There are many challenges. Evidence shows that reducing violent deaths of women and girls is possible, but efforts need to be redoubled as well. Perhaps by 2030, the story of the Joselinnes of Central America and the Dominican Republic will no longer be news.

José Cruz-Osorio UNDP Regional Manager for Latin America and the Caribbean

Marcela Smutt. Coordinator of the UNDP InfoSegura Regional Project