President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) proposed the creation of a regional pact to combat femicide in Mercosur. The Brazilian president addressed the issue in a speech at the bloc’s summit meeting held this Tuesday (30) in Asunción, Paraguay.
“The Regional Pact to end violence against women, proposed by Brazil, deserves to be considered very urgently. There is no strong democracy or lasting development where organized crime erodes the legitimate authority of the State. This is one of the biggest challenges in our region”, said Lula.
Under the proposal, Mercosur countries must develop joint actions to prevent violence against women. Based on an integrated strategy, the bloc’s participants must promote protection mechanisms and facilitate access to justice.
Speaking about organized crime as a whole, Lula highlighted that criminal practice “controls territories, intimidates communities, destroys the environment, fuels corruption and expands its operations into the digital world”. Therefore, according to the president, political, judicial and financial cooperation “needs to act on the same scale”.
If approved, the initiative will add to the efforts that aim to implement a Mercosur Strategy against Transnational Organized Crime.
Femicide in Mercosur countries
Historically, Mercosur member countries — Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia — have high rates of femicide.
In the Brazilian case, in 2025, there were 1,470 cases of feminicide, according to data from the Ministry of Justice and Public Security. The number represents a record in the territory, surpassing the 1,464 records in 2024. Since 2015, when the crime was classified in Brazil, growth has been 316%.
Given the seriousness of the situation, the Lula government created the Brazil Pact against Feminicide. In the first 100 days, the initiative made 6,300 arrests of aggressors, monitoring more than 6,500 women using electronic devices.
In Argentina, despite the pioneering legal approach to femicide — criminalization was formalized in 2012 — the numbers are high. In 2024, 243 women and girls were killed by a relative or intimate partner, according to the non-governmental organization The Meeting House. The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) points out that, in 2023, the year of the body’s most recent survey, there were 250 registered cases of femicide.
Uruguay is often cited as an example when dealing with feminicide. Still in 2002, the neighboring country created the Domestic Violence Law. In 2018, another legal mechanism began to serve as a basis for protection: the Gender-Based Violence Against Women Law, which amended the Uruguayan Civil and Penal Codes.
However, according to ECLAC’s Latin America and Caribbean Gender Equality Observatory, Uruguay had, in 2021, the third highest rate of femicides among the 19 countries in the region.
In Paraguay, although the numbers are lower when compared to Brazil — there were 37 cases of femicide between January and November 2025, according to the country’s Public Ministry — the phenomenon is present. The country created the law that typifies the crime in 2018.
In Bolivia, violence against women is a historical concern. Last year, there were 81 femicides registered in the country, according to the Bolivian Attorney General’s Office. In 64.1% of cases, the aggressor was the victim’s partner.
Source: www.brasildefato.com.br
