A/HRC/20/16 murders are conducted with symbolic effect—destroying the victim‘s humanity, integrity and identity.116 68. Victims come from a range of social and economic backgrounds, which vary from country to country, as do the circumstances in which they are killed. Many of the murdered women come from the most marginalized sectors of society: they are poor, from rural areas, of ethnic origin, sex workers or maquila workers. Young women between 16 and 24 years old are the most vulnerable group. Overall, 25 per cent of murders reveal evidence of sexual assault; 66 per cent of murders in Honduras and 44 per cent in El Salvador exhibit signs of brutality.117 Small firearms were used in 90 per cent of femicides in Guatemala 118 and in 79 per cent of femicides in Honduras in 2010.119 Femicide is considered the secondhighest cause of death of women of reproductive age in Honduras. 120 69. Central America is a post-conflict region with fragile States and institutions, and it is also the poorest region in the Americas. 121 The effect of certain economic policies encouraged and facilitated the introduction of maquilas. The low-paid jobs created by the maquila industry are mainly occupied by women, in particular poor and illiterate women from rural areas. Contracts are generally on a temporary basis, with long working hours and no benefits. Also, women walk through dark public spaces as they return home late in the day, with no protection against criminal activities in the public sphere. 70. Furthermore, organized crime groups and gangs (known as maras) have multiplied and have created an internal system of control of local territory and of communities. They have established an open market for a profitable arms trade, which allows them to position themselves as the main providers of private security for drug cartels, entrepreneurs and the elite. 8. Killings as a result of sexual orientation and gender identity 71. Gender-based killing due to sexual orientation and gender identity is a phenomenon that has been recently, albeit insufficiently, documented. Although limited statistics are available, civil society reports suggest that violence, motivated by hatred and prejudice based on sexual orientation and gender identity, is a daily reality for many. It is ―characterized by levels of serious physical violence that in some cases exceed those present in other types of hate crimes‖.122 Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, transgender, intersex and queer persons (LGBTIQ), and also activists working in this sector, are targeted because they do not conform to stereotypes of gender sexuality and/or identity, thus becoming victims of homophobic crimes. 72. Manifestations of violence, such as abuse of police power, sexual violence in prisons and murders fuelled by hate, as well as several kinds of discrimination, persist. As academics have noted,123 there is a paradox in the advancement in the protection of individuals‘ sexual rights on the one hand, and the increasing escalation of homophobic 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 18 The women are viewed as inferior and are hence turned into waste material. See Segato, R. (2004) ―Territorio, soberan a y cr menes de segundo Estado: la escritura en el cuerpo de las mujeres asesinadas en Ciudad Juárez‖, Serie Antropológica, 362, Brasil. Supra Note 16. Ibid. Sánchez, J. (2011) ―Impunidad: Un grito sin respuesta. Informe final femicidios en Honduras‖, Tribuna de Mujeres Contra los Femicidios. Honduras. Ibid. UNDP Human Development Index (2010). See Human Rights First, Violence Based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Bias, 2008 Hate Crime Survey (2008) at p. 1. Julieta Lemaitre, ―Love in the Time of Cholera‖, Sur, International Journal of Human Rights, Argentina, 2010.