The Italian parliament passed unanimously, with 237 votes, a bill with which the term femicide is introduced into the country’s criminal law and is punished with life imprisonment, while it includes stricter penalties also for other crimes based on gender (for example sexual harassment).
The vote coincided with the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
“We doubled the funding for anti-violence centres and shelters, promoted an emergency line and implemented innovative education and awareness-raising activities,” Giorgia Meloni stated. “These are specific steps forward, but we will not stop here. We must continue to do much more, every day.”
In 2024, 106 femicides were recorded, 62 of which were committed by partners or former partners.
Although the centre-left, which is in opposition, supported the bill, it said that in this way only the criminal dimension is solved and issues such as the non-introduction of sex education in schools or the economic inequality of men/women remain.
The discussion about the introduction of sexual and emotional education in schools as a means of preventing gender-based violence has intensified in Italy. A law, in fact, that is proposed by the government would ban sexual and emotional education for primary school pupils and would require the explicit consent of parents for any lessons in middle school.
“Italy is one of the seven countries of Europe where sexual and emotional education is not yet compulsory in schools, and we ask for it to become compulsory in all cycles of school education,” stated the head of Italy’s Democratic Party, Elly Schlein.
Source: Associated Press
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