The interior and women’s ministers, together with the vice-president of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (BKA), have just presented the balance sheet of crimes against women for the year 2023[1].

The most relevant data in this report are:

• 938 girls and women victims of homicide (attempted and completed crime included), a figure that implies 32.4% of all victims of crimes against life. 80.6% of these victims were in the context of partner relationships. A total of 360 girls and women lost their lives due to completed homicides, that is, almost one femicide a day.

• 52,330 girls and women were victims of crimes against sexual freedom (up 6.2% compared to the previous year). More than half were minors.

• 17,193 women were victims of digital violence, such as cyberbullying or other crimes that, for example, are committed on social networks. The increase in this area is of 25% compared to the previous year.

• 70.5% of victims of domestic violence were girls and women, with a total of 180,715 victims (171,076 in 2022), many more in the context of partner relationships (79.2% of the total) than by intra-family violence (54% of the total).

• 591 girls and women were victims of human trafficking crimes for the purpose of sexual exploitation, an increase of 6.9% compared to 2022. 31.5% of these victims were under the age of 21.

• Crimes against women within the group of politically motivated crimes (hate crimes against women) grew by 56.3%, with 322 crimes compared to 206 in 2022.

• The vast majority of victims and perpetrators of these crimes were of German nationality. Only in the case of human trafficking crimes do we find a majority of victims and perpetrators of nationalities other than German.

The report speaks of various causes of this increase in violence against women. One of the reasons given is that the growing emancipation of women can threaten the social and professional position of many men. The reaction against that perceived threat may be violence. In this context, it is necessary to take into account the hate messages that are broadcast on the Internet and that have a notable diffusion. The presence on the network of these anti-feminist messages can make those who are against women’s equality think they are a majority and radicalise their response against women. This reality suggests that campaigns to prevent and combat violence against women must go far beyond police actions (which are necessary) and be able to influence public opinion effectively, so that the process of social and professional equalisation of women is assumed as positive and necessary.

In the purely police sphere, the report believes that it is necessary to intensify the fight against online feminophobia, to improve the results of the fight against the sexual exploitation of many women and to continue to collaborate in the identification of victims and perpetrators of femicide at international level.

[1] Vid. BKA – Meldungen – Bundeslagebild – Geschlechtsspezifisch gegen Frauen gerichtete Straftaten 2023

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