17 violence in 1999 compared with previous years.47 The IACHR also mentioned reports that violence based on gender was “a leading cause of death and disability among women between 15 and 44 years of age.”48 76. The IACHR also noted that Guatemala’s response to domestic violence revealed specific areas where further steps needed be taken in order to provide victims with effective protection for their basic rights.49 One of the serious limitations on the design of effective responses to gender violence that was highlighted by the IACHR was the lack of clear data on the precise magnitude of the problem.50 In 2003, the IACHR reiterated that while precise statistics were difficult to obtain, the number of murders involving female victims had risen and that these cases had not been properly investigated nor the guilty parties punished.51 According to data provided by the National Police of Guatemala to the IACHR,52 303 women were murdered in 2001, 317 in 2002, 383 in 2003, 509 in 2004, and 552 in 2005.53 77. In 2004, the IACHR Office of the Rapporteur on the Rights of Women announced in the context of its working visit to Guatemala that several sources had stated that not only had the number of murders of women increased, but that there had also been an increase in the degree of violence and cruelty displayed against the bodies of many of the victims. The Office of the Rapporteur said that it had received consistent reports describing cases of murders “to set an example,” in which “the abuse reflected by the state of the victim’s body and the areas in which the corpses were left, [was] designed to send a message of terror and intimidation.”54 In this context, the Office of the Rapporteur 47 Figures supplied by the Public Prosecution Service indicated that it had received 1,400 reports of domestic violence and almost 600 reports of rape in 1999. In 1998, the figures were little over 600 and slightly more than 400, respectively. 48 IACHR, Fifth Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Guatemala, April 6, 2001, OEA/Ser.L/V/II.111, Doc. 21 rev., par. 41. 49 In the report, the IACHR mentioned that the organization MINUGUA carried out a comprehensive study on the State’s response to intrafamilial violence and rape in 1999. On examining how State personnel assigned to receive complaints of intrafamilial violence responded, MINUGUA identified a tendency on the part of many, particularly police officers, to blame the victim. One officer was quoted as expressing the view of many that “the principal cause of intrafamilial violence is the behavior of the woman.” 50 IACHR, Fifth Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Guatemala, April 6, 2001, OEA/Ser.L/V/II.111, Doc. 21 rev., par. 47. In its report, the IACHR noted that the director of the Domestic Violence Program of the United Nations Latin American Institute for the Prevention of Crime (ILANUD) estimated that half of all Guatemalan women suffer some form of violence, primarily physical. In addition, a representative of the nongovernmental Network of Nonviolence against Women estimated that every 46 minutes a woman is subjected to violence. 51 IACHR, Justice and Social Inclusion: The Challenges of Democracy in Guatemala, 2003, par. 296. 52 The IACHR collected information on the murder rate for women in Guatemala during a working visit that it conducted from September 12 to 18, 2004, and on a follow-up visit by the Rapporteur on the Rights of Women, Víctor Abramovich, from July 14 to 17, 2006, as part of the activities carried out in Guatemala during the 125th regular session on the IACHR. 53 According to those statistics, the number of women murdered between January and June 2006 was 303. National Police of Guatemala, powerpoint presentation on female homicides, 2005-2006. June 2006. 54 IACHR, Press Release No. 20/04, Special Rapporteur evaluates the effectiveness of the right of women in Guatemala to live free from violence and discrimination. Washington, D.C., September 18, 2004, available on-line at http://www.cidh.org/Comunicados/English/2004/20.04.htm. With respect to differences between murders of women and men, Guatemala’s Human Rights Ombudsman noted that, with men, in almost 80% of cases they were killed in a way that did not necessarily entail physical contact between victim and assailant, such as, for instance, with a firearm. However, this was only true in 69% of cases where women were concerned, whereas in 31% of cases it was found that forms of direct physical violence were employed, such as through the use of stabbing weapons or blunt instruments, as well as by strangulation. The Continúa…