NOVANEWS
- A protestor at the Ni Una Menos demonstration. | Photo: Reuters
Despite the inclusion of “femicide” in the criminal code in 2012, only one man has been sentenced for femicide charges since then.
Director Alejandra Perdomo’s latest documentary is focusing on one of Argentina’s burning issue of gender violence, which kills one woman every 30 hours in the country.
ANALYSIS: Argentine Women in Forefront Against Femicide
Including testimonies of victims of gender violence, relatives of women killed, from all ages and social status, as well as experts, the documentary was the result of “the daily concern of opening a newspaper, listening to the radio or TV and find out about another femicide.”
The film tries to “show the hope beyond the pain,” said Perdomo to EFE, showing how parents of assassinated daughters joined the struggle against femicides, among others.
Every 30 hours, a woman is killed in the country, which inspired the documentary title, with almost 3,000 women killed in total since 2008, when the organization Casa del Encuentro started to monitor femicides.
Femicide refers to the murder of a woman by a man who considers her his property and therefore has the right to her life or death. It was recognized as a specific case of homicide in Argentina’s criminal code system and susceptible to heavier prison sentences since 2012 during the progressive administration of Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.
Despite the inclusion of “femicide” in the criminal code in 2012, only one man has been sentenced for femicide charges since then.
According to Pedromo, the anti-femicide movement “Ni Una Menos” made the issue more visible, resulting in a surge of complaints.
While Argentina has been a pioneer in implementing laws defending the rights of the LGBTI community over the past decade during the progressive Kirchnerist administration, the country only recently started to measure the extent of the femicide issue, after an accumulation of horrendous murders were covered in the media.
The documentary premiered on Nov. 24 and seeks to contribute to the visibility of gender violence, as well as the programs and groups fighting against it, working as “a tool for society” in a bid to cut short the cycle of violence.
