Three-hundred and fifty trans people have been murdered worldwide in 2024, according to Transgender Europe’s annual Trans Murder Monitoring project, which has tracked the murders of over 5,000 transgender people since its inception almost two decades ago.
While this is a significant increase in comparison with the previous year, when 321 cases were reported, there were half as many cases in Europe this year compared to last year.
Following previous trends, Latin America and the Caribbean once again report the highest number of murders out of all the world’s regions, representing 70% of global murders of trans people. The data continues to indicate concerning trends when it comes to the intersections of misogyny, racism, xenophobia, and whorephobia. Most victims were Black and trans women of colour, and trans sex workers.
Regarding this year’s high total number of murders, the joint statement declares: “This is no doubt a consequence of the concerted efforts of anti-gender and anti-rights movements that instrumentalise and vilify trans people to push wider anti-democratic political agendas. We have seen a consistent rise in the levels of online and offline hate speech and hate crimes, especially from political actors and religious and faith leaders, public figures.
“This rise is enabled by the lack of strong hate crime legislation that protects gender identity and expression, and the manipulative disinformation resulting from the lack of accountability for social media companies on ensuring information integrity.”
According to TGEU, these figures offer only a brief snapshot of the actual situation as many cases remain unreported or misreported due to misgendering, and cases that get reported often attract minimal attention. Furthermore, this attention frequently differs from how the victims wish to be acknowledged and spoken about.
Although awareness of the challenges faced by trans people and the marginalisation of trans communities globally is increasing, violence against trans people persists. This year’s total is the joint-third highest number of reported murders since TGEU began monitoring in 2008, matching the total from 2020. The number of reported murders was only higher in the data updates in 2021 (375) and 2017 (369).
Ymania Brown, Executive Director of TGEU — Trans Europe and Central Asia, said: “Every year, TGEU compiles data on trans murders globally to underscore just how much trans lives are at significant higher risk than other people. This year, as we confront the sobering milestone of 5,000 documented murders since the start of the Trans Murder Monitoring project that we know of, we, the trans people and communities around the world, are exhausted from repeatedly asking:
“When will this violence end?
“We can no longer afford to wait!
“States must commit to immediate action to counter the surge in anti-trans hate speech and attacks and break this cycle of violence!
“Our lives depend on it!”