TL:DR: The numbers are likely only the tip of the iceberg, but this year's Trans Murder Monitoring project has tracked 350 murders of transgender people in the last year, which the report’s authors say is a "significant increase" since last year.
In a "significant increase" from last year, 350 transgender people were murdered in the previous year, according to the annual Transgender Murder Monitoring Report.
Released each year ahead of Transgender Day of Remembrance, held on November 20th, Transgender Europe (TGEU) have now tracked 5000 murders in the last 17 years of making the list.
The authors said the increase from last year's total of 321 marks an ongoing rise in hate towards transgender, gender-diverse and non-binary people.
Worryingly, the data this year shows that one in four of those killed were under the age of 25, with 15 of those who were killed under the age of 18.
The numbers, which are based on the period of 1 October 2023 and 30 September 2024 also show that racism, xenophobia and discrimination against sex workers also play a huge role in the murders.
Nine in ten (93%) of the murders tracked by the report were of Black or Brown trans people, an increase of 14% from last year. Meanwhile, sex workers remain the highest targeted profession of those killed (46%), although this year's figures mark the lowest proportion of sex worker murders since reporting began.
The majority of the murders were committed in Latin America and the Caribbean; Brazil remains one of the most violent places to live as a transgender person, with the highest number of murders tracked there.
There were also double the number of murders tracked in Africa this year and a rise in the US, showing a concerning global trend. Europe slightly bucked this trend however, with a slight decrease.
Reflecting on their organisation's report, Ymania Brown, Executive Director of TGEU, asked, "When will this violence end?" while calling for countries worldwide to commit to "immediate action to counter the surge in anti-trans hate speech and attacks."
Analysis: These numbers are likely just the tip of the iceberg
As a journalist, I've been reporting on this list for several years. So I know all too well despite the incredible dedication of the team at Transgender Europe to catalogue these murders across the world, they represent only a fraction of those that take place.
The report relies mainly on media reporting on deaths. When you zoom out and consider thatnot every murder is covered in the press, and in many countries, transgender identities are not even recorded in official reporting, the figures available are an even clearer call to action. Look at an even bigger picture, and the reality is many families will live in fear of violence coming to their door, meaning many transgender people are not honoured in death, and justice is not sought.
"Behind the statistical representation of numbers and percentages, there are people whose lives we value and who we, as societies, failed to protect," report authors have told me in previous years.
Meanwhile, as democracies across the world shift to right-wing parties that often come with anti-LGBTQ policies, there have been rising hate crimes alongside increasing criminalisation and persecution of the community.
Vigils will be held in cities all over the world on Wednesday when Transgender Day of Remembrance is held; many will read out all 350 names of those we lost. This is a important moment to sit and hold this grief - especially this year.
But it's also a moment to remind ourselves of just how critical unity is in a time of increasingly right-wing governments and social attitudes.
We're a broad community, and if we focus on who the real enemy is, lead with our truth and stop fighting their lies, we'll do what queers have done for decades: Win the fights ahead.
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