Femicide continues to be a major concern for women’s groups across the MENA and Asia regions.
In Afghanistan, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, and the UAE, the killing of women has led to widespread social outcry and protest.
An unprecedented spike in femicide in June 2022 and the murders of three women including, Nayera Ashraf in Egypt, Iman Rashid in Jordan and Lubna Mansour in the UAE, triggered a wave of anger across the MENA region.
Following these brutal murders, feminists launched a regional campaign, which included protests, strikes and social media awareness raising, to demand renewed commitment on the part of governments to end gender-based violence and femicide.
Feminists are especially calling on state structures to end impunity for crimes against women including homicide.
Women’s groups have worked for decades to raise awareness about gender based violence and discrimination, and have advocated law reform and adoption of protective measures.
But governments have fallen short in their responsibility to protect the lives of women.
Lack of legislation criminalizing violence, limited or non-existent legal and social protections, the inability or unwillingness of governments, police and courts to implement existing protections and to hold perpetrators accountable for their crimes against women are examples of governmental shortcomings.
Femena urges governments and authorities to heed the long standing calls of women’s groups to adopt and enforce comprehensive laws against gender-based violence and to hold perpetrators fully accountable for their violent crimes against women and girls.