The first national report on gender-based violence in Argentina has revealed that complaints quadrupled between 2012 and 2017, according to the INDEC national statistics bureau.
The growth in complains has not resulted in a reduction in femicides: the past year there were 292 cases, almost identical to 2016’s statistic (290 cases) in a country of 42 million people.
The Unique Registry for Cases of Violence against Women (RUCVM), the first of its kind carried out by INDEC, recorded that in Argentina there were complaints raised on 86,700 cases in the past year, compared to 22,577 in 2012.
Breaking it down by age, the study indicated that 60.2 percent of the victims that bring their case before the justice system or before assistance organisations are between 20 and 39 years old. In 82.7 percent of the cases, the aggressor had a relationship with the victim: in 45.8 percent they were their partner and in 36.9 percent their ex-partner.
With respect to 14 to 19 year olds who made complaints, 17.3 percent of the cases the aggressor was their father. In women older than 60 years old, 46 percent of the time the aggressors were their sons. The report states that 90 percent of the victims have levelled more than one complaint against the perpetrator, although only one case per victim was counted, independent of the number of complaints that are presented.
The report also demonstrated the amount of time that a woman withstands the abuse: 40.5 percent agreed that they suffered violence at the hands of the same aggressor for at least five years, and 23.8 percent for over a decade.
In 86.9 percent of the cases the woman complained of suffering psychological violence, 67.4 percent physical, 19.4 percent economic and 7.9 percent sexual. And a total of 97 percent of the cases were framed in domestic violence, while the remaining 3 percent was split among workplace violence, obstetrical and institutional.
Indec signalled that the report is based on an ongoing study and that its data is yet to be regarded as complete.
“The long-term goal is for the RUCVM to include the total number of cases of gender-based violence registered in the country, because they carry out the actions that women bring forth when looking for help from the state,” the entity explained.
Argentina’s law defines violence against women as “all conduct, action, or neglect that (...) affects her life, liberty, dignity, physical, mental, sexual, or economic integrity, as well as her personal security”.
- TIMES/AGENCIES
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