Brazil passes femicide law to tackle rise in gender killings

By Anastasia Moloney BOGOTA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Brazil, where a woman is killed every two hours, is imposing tougher punishments on those who murder women and girls, as part of a government bid to stem a rise in gender killings. President Dilma Rousseff said the new law gave a legal definition to the crime of femicide – the killing of a woman by a man because of her gender – and set out jail sentences of 12 to 30 years for convicted offenders. The law also includes longer jail terms for crimes committed against pregnant women, girls under 14, women over 60 and people with disabilities. Brazil joins 15 other Latin American countries which have brought in laws against femicide in recent years.