The well-publicized murder of a fifteen-year old Argentine girl in December has shed light on the rising number of adolescent girls in Argentina killed as a result of domestic abuse and violent sexual assaults. The Argentine organization La Casa del Encuentro, together with the Femicide Observatory in Argentina (in Spanish), documented at least 1,236 femicides between 2008 and 2014, with the rate of teenage femicides gradually increasing over the same period. Despite recent legal reforms intended to combat domestic violence and other forms of violence against women in Argentina, activists say Argentine women and girls continue to battle entrenched patriarchal attitudes and a “machista” culture that perpetuates and even condones violent behavior towards women and girls.
Compiled from: Frayssinet, Fabiana, Teenage Girls in Argentina – Invisible Victims of Femicide, InterPress Service News Agency (January 28, 2015).