Tens of thousands of people have rallied across the world, in countries as diverse as Guatemala, Russia, Sudan and Turkey, to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

Roughly 87,000 women and girls were murdered across the world in 2017, according to the United Nations.

The French government announced it would make it easier for doctors to share information on vulnerable women and write into law the concept of psychological “entrapment”, following enormous rallies in France over the weekend.

Crowds marched through the streets of Moscow to highlight the government’s failure to pass laws protecting women, and hundreds of Sudanese women chanted: “Freedom, peace and justice” as they gathered in Khartoum in the first such protest in decades.

In Mexico City, masked demonstrators with sledgehammers smashed glass panes of bus stops, spray-painted monuments and clashed with riot police on Monday to protest authorities’ failure to halt soaring rates of femicide and rape in the country.

Tens of thousands marched in Madrid on Monday evening following a weekend of protests. Spain’s long-standing laws against gender violence have not halted the problem with 52 women having been killed by their partners or ex-partners since the start of 2019.

The UN warned that more action was needed around the world, singling out Afghanistan as a country where too little is done to counter sexual violence and rape.