Femicide rates in Chile show no signs of receding, with a rise in attempted cases exposing critical flaws in the enforcement of the Comprehensive Law against Violence. According to elmostrador.cl, the number of attempted femicides rose from 319 in 2024 to 330 in 2025, while the number of completed murders remained steady at 44 victims.
So far in 2026, statistics from SernamEG already report 8 completed femicides and 74 attempted cases. This situation prompted Security Minister Trinidad Steinert and Undersecretary of Crime Prevention Ana Victoria Quintana to appear before the Chamber of Deputies on April 8.
During the hearing, Minister Steinert explained that obtaining objective data on attempted femicides remains difficult. She noted that the lack of a dedicated department within her ministry, combined with the variability in legal classifications, complicates accurate record-keeping.
“This is due, first, to the fact that the ministry did not have a specific separate section for femicide. And second, because the reality of legal classifications for femicide is constantly shifting,” Steinert stated.
The official detailed that an incident may initially be recorded as an attempted femicide, but its legal classification may change following further investigation.
Failures in Oversight
For her part, Undersecretary Quintana acknowledged that the Ministry of Security lacks consolidated data on attempted femicides due to current accounting methods. However, she assured that the institution possesses the databases necessary to extract the required records.
Quintana pointed out that the issue lies not in a lack of legislation, but in the execution of protective measures. “The problem with oversight has been chronic. Therefore, from the Ministry of Security, (...) there is a plan in place to strengthen the police forces,” the official indicated.
Paula Salvo Del Canto, Director of the Humanas Corporation, maintains that there is a gap between the legal framework and its effective application. The organization warns that the protection system fails to activate in a timely manner.
“Chile has moved toward a more robust legal framework, culminating in the Comprehensive Law against Gender Violence... However, as both comparative evidence and our own studies show, the gap between the formal recognition of rights and their effective exercise remains significant,” Salvo declared.
Salvo added that violence has shifted into workplace and digital environments, and that a lack of inter-institutional coordination prevents the effective monitoring of protective measures.
