Dominican Republic NSO and CoE work to strengthen measurement of gender-related deaths of women and girls

Between June 3 and 6, 2024, the UNODC-INEGI Center of Excellence (CoE) conducted a mission to the Dominican Republic, with the objective of learning about the extent to which the country’s institutions collect data related to the Statistical Framework for Measuring the Gender-related Killing of Women and Girls (also called “Femicide/Feminicide”) developed by the UNODC-INEGI CoE and UN Women’s Global Center of Excellence on Gender Statistics (CEEG). During this visit, the CoE held a series of meetings with several key institutions as part of a pilot project aimed at improving the collection and analysis of data on gender-related deaths of women and girls.

On the first day of meetings, the CoE visited the Dominican Republic’s Center for Data Analysis and Citizen Security (CADSECI), the National Police and the Ministry of Women’s Affairs. At CADSECI, with the participation of Alberto Morillo, director of the center, and technical staff, the integration of key variables into the CADSECI database was discussed and challenges in data collection and analysis were addressed. Subsequently, with the National Police, Juan Ascensión, in charge of the Statistics Unit, and his team, presented the available data related to the Framework. The session with the Ministry of Women, with Jessica Croce, director of the ministry, highlighted the importance of accurate data to address femicide/feminicide. The ministry presented its format of notification of homicides of women and discussed how the data collected is used.

On the second day of meetings, the CoE visited the National Institute of Forensic Sciences (INACIF) and the Attorney General’s Office (PGR). At INACIF, Miguel Núñez, in charge of the Thanatology Department, explained the stages in the generation of information on women’s homicides, highlighting the relevance of the body removal and autopsies. The meeting with the PGR, with the participation of Martha González, Director of Statistics, focused on the system for capturing reports and the integration of relevant data for statistical analysis.

The mission concluded with meetings between the CoE and the National Statistics Office of the Dominican Republic (ONE-RD), as well as with the Ministry of Health. In the technical meeting with ONE-RD, the “Implementation Plan for the Implementation of Statistical Classifications Adapted to the Dominican Republic 2025-2028” was reviewed, including the implementation of the International Classification of Statistical Classifications (ICCS) adapted to the country’s context. Possible areas of collaboration were discussed, such as the development of training and the exchange of materials and experiences.

Finally, the meeting with the Ministry of Health, led by Joel Garrido, Director of Statistics, included discussions on the collection of variables through death certificates and the technical and operational challenges to achieve an effective integration of the health and justice systems.

This visit represents a significant step towards improving the collection and analysis of data on femicides/feminicides in the Dominican Republic, strengthening national capacities to effectively address this issue.