Argentines protest violence against women

Protesters—including 200,000 in Buenos Aires—held marches in over 80 Argentine cities Wednesday to protest violence against women. Argentina’s Supreme Court responded Thursday to one of their demands by calling for a national femicide registry of homicides targeting women, according to the Buenos Aires Herald.

The women’s rights group Casa del Encuentro said domestic violence caused nearly 300 Argentine female deaths in 2014. Perpetrators included husbands, brothers, and ex-partners.

One Baptist observer in Córdoba, Caro Villaroel Quintela, said Argentina’s government “doesn’t accept that this is happening and is very unyielding.” Protesters called for the government to enforce existing anti-violence legislation, improve the judicial process for victims, and increase school training against sexual discrimination and abuse.

Previous protests in Argentina came immediately after attacks on women, but Wednesday’s march was a general outcry, with even government officials, opposition leaders, judges, and prosecutors joining protesters, according to the Herald. Casa del Encuentro said attacks on women have increased recently; about 80 percent of femicides occur through domestic violence.

#NiUnaMenos (“NotOneLess”) is the social media campaign behind the protests. One Twitter user, Roci Fernandez from Buenos Aires, wants “a change in the education of society” and said the campaign’s message needs to be spread to “the whole world to stop this verbal, psychological, and physical violence.” The Argentine rallies spread to Chile, Uruguay, and Mexico, which has one of the world’s highest rates of violence toward women.