Unfortunately a few acts of extremist violence have taken place recently. I have been thinking about the response to those events in the general public. The sort of comments I read on social media and how whole communities are being tarred by the behaviour of the few.
However I can’t help but also think about the other acts of violence that occur on a daily basis and don’t get attention. Where is the outrage for those victims?
I am talking about domestic violence, perpetrated most often (but not exclusively) by men.
How many people share posts on Facebook condemning this and calling for their community to do more to stop it?
The data
According to this article during the 6 years to the end of 2016, in only England and Wales, more than 900 women were murdered. That is 150 victim per yearin these two countries alone. How high is the number across the world?
On this website I found these truly horrific estimates for that
An analysis of a United Nations global crime study has revealed that an estimated 43,600 women are killed every year by an intimate partner or family member. This is the equivalent to five women every hour or one woman every 12 minutes.
And this is just the estimated death toll. What about those that aren’t killed. How many are being physically and emotionally abused on a daily basis? How many children are witness to it and also being traumatised.
Compared these numbers with those killed in terrorist incidents in the UK and in Europe in this article.
Over the last 10 years there have been 1.4 deaths per year in the UK due to terrorism
Yet there have been 150 women per year killed in England and Wales alone by current or former partners.
How do you feel about these figures? Are you shocked, or all too familiar through personal experience of how widespread domestic violence is? Please get in touch if you need support for your own situation.