Amnesty International demands SA criminalise femicide to expose ‘hidden’ crisis

Polity Audio Articles · Sep 18, 2026 · 2m

Amnesty International demands SA criminalise femicide to expose 'hidden' crisis

Amnesty International South Africa is urgently calling on the State to recognise femicide as a distinct crime, warning that failure to do so leaves the targeted killing of women largely unaddressed.

Femicide, defined as the gender-motivated killing of a woman because she is a woman, is currently not classified as a separate offence under South African law.

Instead, these deaths are categorised under general murder statistics, a practice that advocates argue masks the systemic nature of the crisis.

South Africa…