ABUJA, 8 July: Some 464,000 people
across the world were killed in homicides in 2017, surpassing by far the 89,000
killed in armed conflicts in the same period, according to the Global Study on Homicide 2019 published yesterday by the United
Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
“The
Global Study on Homicide seeks to shed light on gender-related killings, lethal
gang violence and other challenges, to support prevention and interventions to
bring down homicide rates,” said UNODC Executive Director Yury Fedotov.
“Countries have committed to targets under the Sustainable Development Goals to
reduce all forms of violence and related death rates by 2030. This report
offers important examples of effective community-based interventions that have
helped to bring about improvements in areas afflicted by violence, gangs and
organized crime.”
The study
shows that the overall number of people who suffered a violent death as a
result of homicide increased in the past quarter of a century, from 395,542 in
1992 to 464,000 in 2017. However, because the global population has risen
faster than the increase in recorded homicide victims, the overall risk of
being killed in homicides has declined steadily. The global homicide rate,
measured as the victims of homicide per 100,000 people, declined from 7.2 in
1992, to 6.1 in 2017.
Organized
crime responsible for 19 per cent of homicides
Organized
crime alone was responsible for up to 19 per cent of all homicides in 2017.
Since the start of the twenty-first century, organized crime killed about as
many people as all armed conflicts across the world combined. Moreover, just
like armed conflicts, organized crime destabilizes countries, undermines socioeconomic
development and erodes the rule of law.
Homicide
rates vary widely between and within regions
The 2017
average global homicide rate (6.1) masks dramatic differences across regions. With
13 victims of homicide per 100.000 inhabitants, Africa’s homicide rate is well
above the global average and second only to the rate of 17.2 in the Americas,.
whereas the rates in Asia, Europe and Oceania were below the global average
(2.3, 3.0 and 2.8 respectively).
Data
on homicides, in particular, in Africa is patchy and diverging. In Nigeria
official statistics are hard to come by. In 2004 the World Health Organization
reported the homicide rate in Nigeria at 5.4 per 100.000 inhabitants. Data
provided by the Nigeria Police Force indicate that there were 2,712 and 2,861
homicides in 2012 and 2013, respectively. However, according to the Federal
Ministry of Justice, these data are incomplete since not all States appear to
maintain statistics or report on them on a regular and reliable basis. A report
published recently by the National Bureau of Statistics put the number of
“murders” in 2017 at 3,219. An alternative source is provided by the World
Health Organization (WHO) who estimated in 2014 17,059 victims of homicide. In
2017, the National Bureau of Statistics published prison statistics indicating
that from 2013 to 2016 an average of 8,264 per year, were imprisoned for
allegedly committing homicide.
To
find out more about homicides in Nigeria, UNODC, in partnership with the
National Bureau of Statistics of Nigeria, in 2016 conducted a survey
covering more than 33,000 households across all 36 States and the Federal
Capital Territory of Nigeria. The results of the survey provide strong evidence
that the level of lethal violence in Nigeria could be significantly higher than
reported to the authorities or estimated based on public health data. On the
basis of the survey sample, the annual homicide rate of Nigeria in the period
2013–2016 was estimated at 34 per 100,000 population, corresponding to around
64,000 victims of intentional homicide annually with significant variations
across the six geopolitical zones. The total homicide rate was estimated to be
the highest in the North-East: 79 per 100,000 population and North-Central: 65
per 100.000. With an estimated 4.4 victims of homicide per 100.000 inhabitants,
the homicide rate was the lowest in the South-West.
Most
homicide victims are men, but women more often killed by family and intimate
partners
Globally,
some 81 per cent of homicide victims recorded in 2017 were men and boys, and
more than 90 per cent of suspects in homicide cases were men, according to the
most recent estimates. However, the study shows that the gender disparity among
victims changes with age.
Girls and
boys aged nine and under are killed at roughly equal rates, in marked contrast
to all other age groups, in which males make up more than 50 per cent of the
victims, according to data from 41 countries.
In all
regions, the likelihood of boys becoming victims of homicide increases with
age, although this process occurs at different stages. Men and male adolescents
aged between 15 and 29 are at the highest risk of homicide globally. At the
same time, nowhere are women and girls more likely to become victims of
homicide than in Africa, predominantly at the hands of an intimate partner or a
family member.
Tackling
the drivers of homicide
Targeted
and efficient interventions to counter homicide require a comprehensive
understanding of its scale and drivers. The drivers of homicide highlighted in
the study include inequality, unemployment, political instability, the
prevalence of gender stereotypes in society, and the presence of organized
crime.
The study
also points to the importance of a governance model centred on the rule of law,
control of corruption, and investment in socioeconomic development, including
in education, as critical in bringing down the rate of violent crime. Firearms
and drugs and alcohol are further facilitators of homicide that need to be
addressed, according to the study.
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It
consists of five thematic booklets, each offering an insight into specific facets
and dimensions of this complex phenomenon: homicide trends and patterns;
drivers, mechanisms and typologies of homicide; homicide and sustainable
development; gender-related killing of women and girls; and the killing of
children and young adults. An additional sixth booklet consists of the
executive summary and policy implications.
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For further information contact:
Sylvester Atere
Communications Officer,
UNODC Nigeria
