4 out of 10 Peruvian women suffer domestic violence

Four out of 10 Peruvian women are victims of domestic violence, Peru's Ministry of Women and Vulnerable Populations said Monday, on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. Ana Mendieta, director of the National Program Against Domestic and Sexual Violence of the Ministry, told local radio station RPP that this percentage has remained unchanged since 2000, which means Peru has made no progress in ending gender violence. Mendieta cited figures to show the seriousness of this social problem, saying that during the first 10 months of 2013, 99 women were murdered by their partners and ex-partners, plus 122 attempted femicide cases, compared to 83 and 99, respectively, in the same period of 2012. Mendieta said that the government has taken concrete actions to fight against violence and one of them has been the National Plan to Fight Violence against Women since 2009. "This plan seeks to join the federal government's work with regional and local governments as well as with the civil society to actively fight, from different stages, against the problem," she said.