Protesters around the world have rallied to express their anger over the persistence of violence against women and to demand greater public action to combat the scourge.

November 25 marked the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, a global call to raise awareness about all forms of abuse targeting women and girls.

About 50,000 women and girls were killed by intimate partners or family members last year, according to a report released by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the UN Women to mark the day.

That is 60 percent of all women killed globally that year. By comparison, 11 percent of male murder victims were killed by someone close to them.

The figure of 50,000, based on data from 117 countries, equates to 137 women per day, or about

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