Nicosia, Cyprus. Police data published on Wednesday recorded 17 femicides between 2020 and 2025, with two attempted femicides registered in 2026 alone. The figures were released amid two recent serious incidents in Limassol and Nicosia.
Police figures and shelter data
The scale of the issue was also reflected in the number of women and children accommodated in shelters for victims of violence. In 2025, a total of 300 women and 347 children were housed in shelters in Nicosia, Limassol and Paphos, as well as in alternative shelters in other districts.
Recent incidents
The statistics were made public one day after a 55-year-old police officer attempted to kill his wife and later took his own life in Limassol on Tuesday.
A few days earlier, a 38-year-old woman and her 58-year-old mother were seriously injured by the woman’s ex-husband in Nicosia on Sunday.
Government response
Speaking to the Cyprus News Agency, Aristos Tsiartas, president of the national coordinating body for the prevention and combatting of violence against women at the justice ministry, said the agency has been actively promoting policies to prevent and effectively address gender-based violence across the island since its creation in 2022.
The body has trained around 200 professionals from the education, health, social policy and justice sectors. A similar training programme for about 100 police officers is planned in the near future.
Awareness campaigns and database plans
According to Tsiartas, the body is implementing information campaigns to raise public awareness on gender-based violence and strengthen support services available to women. It is also working on a unified database for domestic violence, expected in 2027.
He said the archive is expected to contribute to the recording, mapping and systematic monitoring of femicide, which he described as the most extreme form of gender-based violence and which is now a specific crime in the implementing legal framework of the Istanbul Convention.
ELPIS application
Tsiartas also highlighted the importance of the ELPIS application.
Launched in 2024 as part of the national strategy to prevent and combat violence against women, the app allows victims to contact the police without alerting the offender.