Femicides in Argentina, already at a record level last year, have increased further in the first two months of 2024, a report from a local observatory on Friday showed, with more than one killing per day underscoring the deadly threat to women.

The country saw 61 misogynist murders of women and girls due to their gender by the end of February, the femicide observatory at the La Casa del Encuentro non-governmental organization said, up from 56 a year earlier.

The rise, of almost 10%, comes after Argentina saw a record 322 femicides last year according to separate official figures, amid rising poverty, political uncertainty and inflation decimating the population’s purchasing power.

President Javier Milei dismantled the country’s women’s ministry, moving those responsibilities to the Human Capital Ministry. Campaigners for the rights of women and girls are concerned this will hurt protections for women.

“What we are seeing, unfortunately, is that violence against women has been exacerbated,” said Ada Beatriz Rico, director of the observatory that carried out the report. “They are leaving us without tools. We feel like we have gone back in time.”

The government declined to comment. Milei is openly anti-feminist, although he says that does not make him anti-women. He wants to re-open the debate over abortion, which was legalized by Congress in 2020 under the previous government, and has ordered that government bodies do not use gender-neutral language.

Of the 61 victims, 57% were murdered in their home and 20% had made a prior complaint, according to the report. The femicides orphaned 77 children.

Official reports are prepared by the Supreme Court of Justice and the Ombudsman’s Office, but those figures are only published late in the year, meaning NGO data is a quicker indication of trends with femicides.

La Casa del Encuentro, along with 14 other organizations, is pushing the government to clarify its state policies and how it will bolster protections for women against gender violence.

-Reuters