Over 13,000 homicides recorded in Pakistan in 2012: Report

Pakistan had a rate of 7.7 homicides per 100,000 people. Honduras has a homicide rate of 90.5 per 100,000.

With 13,846 people killed in homicides in 2012 with a rate of 7.7 homicides per 100,000 people, Pakistan had a murder rate higher than the global average rate of 6.2, a UN report released on Thursday noted.

According to a report “Global study on homicide 2013” published by United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), intentional homicide was the cause of death of around 437,000 people around the world in 2012.

Dismal situation prevails in Pakistan

In 2012, UNODC notes that the homicide rate in Pakistan dropped by 0.2 to 7.7 per 100,000 amounting to the deaths of 13,846 individuals from 7.9 per 100,000 people in previous year which translates into the death of 13,860 people.

According to the news reports, in 2012 as many as 2,500 people were killed in Karachi alone, a 50 per cent increase from 2011. Most of the deaths were linked to sectarian violence, with Shias being the most targeted sect.

Around 119 workers of the political parties were also killed in year 2012. 61 victims belonged to the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM), 18 to Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), 19 to Awami National Party (ANP), 13 to Mohajir Qaumi Movement-Haqiqi (MQM-H) and eight to Sunni Tehreek (ST).

With a rate of 7.7, Pakistan has the highest rate of homicide in the South Asia region, followed by Afghanistan at 6.5.

While India has the highest number of homicide victims in the region, with 43,355 killed, it translated into just 3.5 per 100,000 due to its large population. Bangladesh scored 2.7, the lowest rate of homicide in the region, with 4,169 people being killed.

The 2012 data for Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bhutan was not available.

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Homicides in South Asia
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Americas, South Africa deadliest regions

According to the report, 36 per cent of the homicides occurred in the Americas, 31 per cent in Africa and 28 per cent in Asia, while Europe and Oceania registered 5 and 0.3 per cent respectively.

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Percentage of homicide region wise
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Globally Southern Africa and Central America are the regions with the highest rates of homicides. Honduras has the highest rate of homicide, with a staggering 90.5 people being killed per 100,000, while Brazil registered the most number of people killed as a result of homicide, 50,108 people, in 2012.

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Homicides victims and perpetrators
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Some 80 per cent of homicide victims and 95 per cent of perpetrators worldwide were men. Almost 15 per cent of all homicides stem from domestic violence (63,600). However, an overwhelming majority - almost 70 per cent - of domestic violence fatalities were women (43,600).

Journalists killed in 2012

According to UNESCO data, 122 journalists were killed in the 2012, which is a record high. Over half of the journalists killed in 2012 were targeted in Asia. Over half of the Journalists killed in Asia were in Syria.

Some 20 per cent of the journalists killed in 2012 were killed in Africa, two-thirds of them in Somalia. South America, Central America and the Caribbean each accounted for eight per cent of all such killings.

Most of those killed have been covering politics, war or corruption and, according to UNESCO, 95 per cent of all journalists killed since 2006 were local reporters, rather than foreign correspondents. Print journalists made up the largest share of journalists killed between 2006 and 2012 (43 per cent), followed by television journalists (28 per cent).

The killing of photojournalists has increased in the last few years, with over a third of the journalists killed in 2012 being camera operators or photographers.