More than 160 women killed so far

[NewsWhore]

Attorney General Radhames Jimenez Pena has revealed that so far this year over 160 women have been killed compared to 128 for the same period last year. The official highlighted the issue of gender violence as he announced a march against this crime set for 19 November. As he looked back, the Attorney General said that there had been 140 gender-related murders in 2006 and 149 in 2005. Women who were killed by their partners so far in 2008 number 102. Among the victims there are 18 cases of foreign women, including12 Haitians. During the same period, 12 women were killed by members of the police and the armed forces. A report from the Attorney General's office says that 40% of the men implicated in these crimes were subject to court orders, while 10% had even had sentences passed against them. According to the report: "In the studies carried out from 2006 to 2008, between 60% and 80% of the cases received in the prosecutors' offices were linked to gender violence, either domestic or intra-family." At least 27 women report gender violence in the National District each day, according to Lourdes Contreras, a spokesperson for the Action Network for Life without Violence (REDVI), and who criticized the lack of coordination between Law 24-97 that penalizes domestic and gender violence and the Democratic Security Plan. Contreras pointed out the need to review the way in which power imbalances between men and women are manifested in the home and on the street, and how this translates into threats and risks to women's safety. The March Against Gender Violence will take place in Santo Domingo. Jimenez Pena said that the walk would start at 4 in the afternoon, departing from Kilometer 0 on Mirador Sur (Avenida de la Salud), going down Jimenez Moya (Winston Churchill) Avenue, and ending with a rally at the new Palace of Justice in the Centro de los Heroes. The First Lady will take part, together with other public figures. Women's Minister Alejandrina German expressed her support for the walk, as did the Commissioner for Support of the Reform and Modernization of the Justice System, Lino Vasquez and assistant prosecutor Roxanna Reyes.

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