Latest news with #genderViolence
Japan Times
16-06-2025
- Japan Times
'This is a culture': TikTok murder highlights Pakistan's unease with women online
Since seeing thousands of comments justifying the recent murder of a teenage TikTok star in Pakistan, Sunaina Bukhari is considering abandoning her 88,000 followers. "In my family, it wasn't an accepted profession at all, but I'd managed to convince them, and even ended up setting up my own business," she said. Then last week, Sana Yousaf was shot and killed outside her house in the capital Islamabad by a man whose advances she had repeatedly rejected, police said.
CTV News
08-06-2025
- CTV News
‘Uphill battle': Criminal Code must include definition for femicide, advocates say
Kingston Police cars are seen in Kingston, Ont., on Thursday, Nov. 28, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick TORONTO — As police in Ontario increasingly investigate killings of women and girls as femicides, advocates say a firm definition of the term must be embedded in the Criminal Code. It's a change they hope could be on the table soon after Prime Minister Mark Carney proposed cracking down on intimate partner violence in this year's federal election campaign. Ottawa police, who have been using the term since August 2024, said last week they were investigating the death of a 54-year-old woman as a femicide. They arrested a 57-year-old man and charged him with second-degree murder. Last month, Kingston Police logged its first use of the label in a news release. Police said they determined the death of a 25-year-old woman to be a femicide because it occurred 'in the context of intimate partner violence,' and they arrested a 26-year-old man for first-degree murder. They confirmed it was their first time describing a homicide in this way. Police use the word so rarely that the Kingston example was a 'very significant' move, said Myrna Dawson, founder and director of the Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Accountability. 'That's not something that's really in their vocabulary right now. It's not something that is in many people's vocabulary as much as it should be,' she said. Dawson, who is also a sociology professor at the University of Guelph, said the lack of Criminal Code definition is part of the reason why. The observatory defines femicide as the killing of women and girls because of their gender. The group also uses a framework from the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime that lists 10 specific indicators that a crime could be considered femicide. They include a woman or girl being killed by her intimate partner or family member, a victim having had a history of being harassed and sexual violence playing a role in the crime. In some cases, more than one factor can be at play. 'They're killed in distinct ways from men and boys, and they're killed in many ways because of men and boys being entitled to relationships with them and expecting that women don't get to decide when they don't want a relationship any longer,' Dawson said. Using the UN framework, her group has counted 1,014 femicides across Canada since it began tracking the killing of women and girls in 2018. That included 187 femicides last year. A current or former intimate partner was accused in nearly half of those cases, the observatory found. Family members were accused in another 28 per cent of cases. Only six per cent of alleged perpetrators were strangers to the victims. Though Kingston police have now called one case a femicide, the group's data suggests at least four killings since 2018 could meet the definition. Other groups are attempting the same work. The Ontario Association of Interval Houses, which tracks cases in the province, has identified five femicides in Kingston since late 2019. Its executive director, Marlene Ham, said that without a universally recognized definition for femicide, different groups will end up with different numbers. Adding a definition of femicide to the Criminal Code would allow better data on violence against women to be captured by police and national agencies such as Statistics Canada, both advocates said. Kingston Police spokesperson Const. Anthony Colangeli declined to answer questions about what motivated the force to use the term femicide and whether it plans to use similar terminology in the future. An Ottawa police spokesperson said the force started using the word femicide to 'highlight the realities of gender-based violence faced by women in our community.' 'By using appropriate language to refer to these murders, we are continuing conversations about this subject that is often considered 'private.' We are raising awareness about an epidemic that is occurring and labelling these deaths appropriately,' the spokesperson said in an email. In the absence of an agreed-upon definition, Ottawa police have come up with a list of 14 forms of violence that fall into the category of femicide, including intimate partner violence killings, the torture and misogynistic slaying of women, the killing of Indigenous women and girls, killing related to sexual violence and the 'non-intimate killings of women and girls.' The force confirmed it does not use femicide to describe women killed in murder-suicides — something Dawson said should change as it is 'a very common scenario in femicide cases.' Other police forces, such as the Toronto Police Service, don't use the term femicide because it currently has no bearing on which charges police lay in homicides. The force does, however, lay terrorism charges in homicides where misogyny is a motivating factor. Dawson says police are 'fighting an uphill battle' when it comes to using femicide terminology more consistently. 'Police really need leaders to take the initiative, and by that I mean the federal government who decides what is a criminal offence and what should be labelled and legislated officially,' she said. Carney promised in the campaign to make killings motivated by hate — including femicide — a 'constructive first-degree offence,' which means a first-degree murder charge would be laid even if the slaying was not planned and deliberate. Chantalle Aubertin, a spokesperson for Justice Minister Sean Fraser, said in a statement the government is 'determined to bring forward legislation to advance this commitment as soon as possible.' Should the federal government enshrine a definition of femicide, Statistics Canada could record better data, Dawson said. The agency already tracks homicides reported by police each year, and the genders of the accused perpetrators and victims. While a 2023 report on gender-related homicides of women and girls broke down some indicators of femicide, it only addressed some of the UN's indicators. 'The more we know about these killings and the more we can contextualize them within that understanding of femicide, the more awareness that we can ultimately build and continue to have these discussions about prevention,' Ham said, noting a history of threats, violence and coercive control is present in many cases. It's important to keep the conversation about violence toward women going, Dawson added, with an emphasis on how these killings differ from those targeting boys and men. 'That's what we're trying to emphasize because if we don't recognize that, then our prevention efforts also don't recognize that, and we don't recognize the urgency of this.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 8, 2025. Cassidy McMackon, The Canadian Press
News24
30-05-2025
- General
- News24
Olorato Mongale's family struggles to come to terms with her tragic death - ‘Our worst fears came true'
She was filled with excitement as she prepared for a date with a potential suitor, only to have her life tragically cut short just hours later. Her untimely death has left South Africa grappling with a profound question: 'When will women truly be safe?' The family of 30-year-old Olorato Mongale, an only child, remains in disbelief following her tragic death. They say each day presents new challenges since the discovery of her lifeless body. Mongale's life was abruptly and violently taken on Sunday afternoon, just two hours after she informed friends she was going on a date with a man she had recently met at a mall in the Free State. The man reportedly contacted her again while visiting Johannesburg, and she agreed to meet him. Family spokesperson and close friend, Criselda Kananda, told Drum Magazine that Mongale had taken safety precautions. She informed her friends of the date and asked them to check in with her every 30 minutes. Despite these measures, Mongale's life was still cruelly stolen. 'Olorato knew the risks women face in this country. That's why she asked her friends to keep checking in while she was out,' said Kananda. 'When an hour passed and no one could reach her, her friends contacted her parents. A missing person poster was created and circulated.' At that point, the family still hoped for her safe return. 'We were worried because her phone was off, but we remained hopeful. It had only been about three hours since she left her apartment,' Kananda explained. 'Unfortunately, our worst fears came true when her body was discovered by the roadside in Lombardy, just two hours after she left for the date.' The family is devastated. 'There are no words to describe the pain we're going through. Every day brings a new challenge,' said Kananda. 'We refuse to let Olorato become another statistic, a young woman discarded on the street. She worked so hard for her future, for her country, and for women everywhere. We cannot accept this as normal.' Olorato Mongale was described as a vibrant, ambitious woman who knew what she wanted from life. She had earned an Honours degree in Journalism and Media Studies from Rhodes University and worked briefly as a multimedia journalist for TimesLIVE. She was pursuing a Master's degree in ICT Policy and Regulation at the University of the Witwatersrand at the time of her death. 'She was her mother's best friend. I cannot imagine how her mom will carry on from this,' Kananda added. Police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe confirmed that a manhunt is underway for three suspects believed to be involved in Mongale's murder. 'The investigation led us to a lodge in Kew, Johannesburg, where two suspects had booked a room,' said Mathe. 'Further intelligence took us to KwaMashu in Durban, to the home of one of the suspects. The vehicle used by the suspects was found at a panel beater workshop, and upon inspection, SAPS forensic experts discovered traces of blood inside.' An elderly man believed to be the owner of the vehicle has been arrested. However, police are still searching for three men suspected to have been directly involved in the murder: Fezile Ngubane, Philangenkosi Sibongokuhle Makhanya, and Bongani Mthimkhulu.
BBC News
15-05-2025
- BBC News
Mexican influencer Valeria Marquez killed on TikTok livestream
A 23-year-old Mexican social media influencer has been shot dead while live streaming on TikTok, the state prosecutor's office Marquez was killed when a man entered her beauty salon in the city of Guadalajara "and apparently fired a gun at her", according to the Jalisco state prosecutor's motive for the fatal attack has not been identified but the case is being investigated as a femicide - when women and girls are killed because of their gender, the state prosecutor violence is highly common in Mexico where the UN reports 10 women or girls are murdered every day by partners or family members. Moments before her death, Ms Marquez was sitting at a table holding a stuffed animal at her beauty salon in the suburb of Zapopan doing a later, she is shot dead, with the footage only ending when another person picks up her phone to stop the media reports say she was killed by a man pretending to bring her a arrived at the scene around 18:30 local time (12:30 GMT) and confirmed Ms Marquez's death, according to the state prosecutor's office did not name a of Ms Marquez, whose social media following totalled nearly 200,000 across TikTok and Instagram, have reacted with horror to her of Zapopan Juan José Frangie said his office had no record of Ms Marquez requesting help from the authorities due to threats against her, adding "a femicide is the worst thing", according to news agency state prosecutor says forensic experts are investigating the shooting.
South China Morning Post
14-05-2025
- South China Morning Post
Mexican beauty influencer Valeria Marquez shot dead during TikTok live stream
A young Mexican social media influencer, known for her videos about beauty and make-up, was brazenly shot to death during a TikTok live stream, in an incident that sent shock waves through a country that faces high levels of gender-based violence. The death of Valeria Marquez, 23, is being investigated according to protocols for femicide – the killing of women or girls for reasons of gender – the Jalisco state prosecutor said in a statement released on Tuesday evening. Femicide can involve degrading violence, sexual abuse, a relationship with the murderer, or the victim's body being exposed in a public space, according to Mexican authorities. Marquez was killed on Tuesday in the beauty salon where she worked in the city of Zapopan by a man who entered and shot her, the statement said. The prosecutor's office did not name a suspect. Seconds before the incident, Marquez was seen on her TikTok live stream seated at a table clutching a stuffed toy. She was heard saying, 'they're coming', before a voice in the background asked: 'Hey, Vale?' 'Yes,' Marquez replied, just before muting the sound on the live stream.
