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Dominican Republic strengthens statistical measurement of femicide with international standards

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Between February 16 and 20, 2026, the Dominican Republic took a decisive step toward consolidating its security and gender statistics. In a technical mission coordinated by the UNODC-INEGI Center of Excellence, UN Women's CEEG, and the Dominican Republic's National Statistics Office (ONE), various national institutions worked to align the statistical system with recent reforms to the Penal Code, which will come into force in August 2026, and with international measurement frameworks.

The implementation of Articles 93 to 95 of the new Dominican Criminal Code represents a change in the classification and monitoring of femicides. The main objective of this meeting was to harmonize these new legal provisions with the Statistical Framework for Measuring Gender-Related Homicide of Women and Girls (MEMF) and the International Classification of Crimes for Statistical Purposes adapted to the Dominican Republic (ICCS ARD).

This alignment will ensure that national figures are not only accurate for the design of domestic public policies, but also comparable at the global level.

The training workshop and working group were attended by key stakeholders from the National Statistical System:

  • National Statistics Office (ONE)

  • Attorney General's Office (PGR)

  • National Institute of Forensic Sciences (INACIF)

  • Ministry of Women

  • Ministry of the Interior and Police

  • Judiciary

  • Prison system

  • Data Analysis and Citizen Security Center

During the working sessions, strategic agreements were established to overcome the fragmentation of information. First, it was agreed to seek the implementation of a Unique Event Identifier to track a case from the 911 call to the court ruling, contributing to data traceability. A plan was urged to be designed to capture variables such as those related to modus operandi, which are currently often scattered across narrative fields. It was agreed to move towards a single statistical operation that consolidates the administrative records of all the institutions involved. Priority was given to capacity building for first responders and data analysts from a gender perspective.

The mission concluded with the design of a Roadmap. This plan promotes the production of indicators on victims, suspects, prosecuted persons, convicted persons, and persons imprisoned in accordance with criteria of transparency, clear methodology, and institutional accountability.

With these advances, the Dominican Republic is positioning itself as a regional benchmark in the application of integrated statistical models for the prevention and eradication of lethal violence against women.