Violence against women spikes in Germany

Shafaq News – Berlin

Germany recorded a sharp rise in domestic, sexual, and digital violence against women last year, according to police statistics released on Friday.

Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt, Family Minister Karin Prien, and Federal Criminal Police Office chief Holger Munch reported that 308 women and girls were killed in 2024 — including 191 murdered by current or former partners or relatives — representing a decline of 32 cases from 2023.

Despite fewer homicides, other forms of violence increased. Authorities documented 859 victims of attempted or completed killings, with 68 percent of perpetrators known to the victims. Sexual violence reached 53,451 cases, nearly half involving minors. Domestic violence rose to 187,128 cases, up 3.5 percent. Digital abuse, including threats and stalking, climbed to 18,224 cases — a 6 percent increase.

Officials warned that the real scale of abuse is likely far higher, noting widespread underreporting in domestic and online violence.

Human trafficking for sexual exploitation affected 593 women, slightly more than the previous year. The number of suspects also grew, many of them current or former partners.

Globally, nearly 840 million women have experienced intimate partner or sexual violence, according to a new World Health Organization–led study, which found little progress over the past two decades. The report estimates that 316 million women were abused by a partner in the last year alone, while 263 million have faced non-partner sexual violence since age 15.