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In Argentina, one in four femicides is committed by firearms, and of the 969 cases between 2014 and 2017, 92 percent of women were killed by their partners or someone they knew.
A study by the Institute of Comparative Studies in Criminal and Social Sciences (Inecip) analyzes the problem of "the possession and use of firearms from a gender perspective."
The September study found that between 2014 and 2017 there were 969 femicides in Argentina, leaving “at least 793 children ... without a mother."
According to the country’s Supreme Court: "Women die more at the hands of their partners, relatives or acquaintances than by attacks by 'strangers'," the report found.
Inecip says that the percentage of femicides committed by unknown persons of the victims has never exceeded eight percent," meaning that over 92 percent of femicides in the three years analyzed were committed by the partners or former partners of the victim.
Moreover, the authors of the study found: "Between eight and 25 percent of the femicide victims had previously registered complaints” against their eventual killers.
During the sentencing of male aggressors in femicides, the study showed, 76 percent of murdered women had told friends or family their partner was violent toward them but had not filed a formal complaint. The Inecip recommend that "future studies should examine why women subjected to violent relationships do not access (help) or file complaints" against intimate sexist violence.
On average, 25 percent of femicides are conducted by firearms, the study concluded, and victims are mainly between 21 and 40 years of age.
In total 99 percent (321,649) of all registered firearms in Argentina as of May of this year were men, compared to the one percent (4,746) who were women, Inecip says.
Meanwhile, Argentina's Secretary of Interior Patricia Bullrich is being criticized by many for pronouncing: "Those who want to be armed can be armed, those who don’t don’t need to be. Argentina is a free country.”
The minister added during the Nov. 2 interview that violence in Argentina is decreasing, meanwhile, femicides increased by eight percent between 2015 and 2016.
Argentina has one of the highest femicide rates in Latin America. In September the EU and United Nations announced a joint Spotlight Initiative to eliminate “femicide in five countries: Argentina, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico,” which alone registered 2,813 femicides in 2016.
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