Countries: Italy
Variables: SEGI-PRACTICE-1

"The school-caretaker story gained traction this week when many Italians began posting 10-second videos of themselves to demonstrate just how long that period can be. It made unsettling viewing but drove the point home: the protection of women in Italy is a very low priority. 'Sorry to be vulgar,' said a quiet female friend of mine in Parma, 'but why don’t we take a broom handle and shove it up the judge’s arse, just for 10 seconds, and see if he still thinks that’s not assault'" (par. 4). "In 2021 Beppe Grillo, the comic and founder of the Five Star Movement (the zany political party), released a furious two-minute video...more

Countries: Italy
Variables: LRW-PRACTICE-1

"The news in Italy this week has been dominated by two sexual violence scandals. In one, the son of the speaker of the senate, the street-fighting politician Ignazio La Russa, is under investigation for rape. In another, a 66-year-old school caretaker who, from behind, inserted his hands inside the underwear of a 17-year-old student from Rome, was absolved because the assault only lasted 'between five and 10 seconds'" (par. 1). "After it emerged that a 22-year-old woman had denounced his son, La Russa stated that she had taken cocaine before going to Milan’s Apophis club in May. The newspaper Libero then revealed the alleged victim’s prescription drugs. The insinuation was...more

Countries: Italy
Variables: IIP-PRACTICE-1, EWCMS-DATA-3

"In the aftermath of the 2022 gathering of the Alpini, Italy’s widely admired mountain infantry, more than 170 women came forward to denounce aggressions, from catcalling to slaps, touchings and insults. Most Alpini are still in denial about the seriousness of the accusations. 'It’s the fault of how they dress,' said one. 'They’re provocative and then they play the victim,' said another" (par. 9).

Countries: Italy
Variables: ABO-LAW-1

"'Our mothers did an amazing amount of work, fighting to legalise abortion and divorce [in 1978 and 1970 respectively], but then they became so bourgeois and settled down. For 20 years, in the 90s and early 00s, there was no feminism around me,' [Giulia Blasi, co-creator of Italy's #MeToo equivalent, #QuellaVoltaChe] said" (par. 12). Obotion was legalized in 1978 in Italy (IME - CODER COMMENT).

Countries: Italy
Variables: ABO-LAW-1

"Abortion is legal in Italy during the first 90 days of pregnancy for health, economic, social, or personal reasons. However, burdensome requirements as well as extensive use of 'conscientious objection' by medical personnel function to deny care to women and girls, and leave them scrambling to find services within the legal time frame. Significant barriers to accessing abortion persist in Italy, such as the need for multiple clinical visits and a seven-day waiting period – the longest in Europe – except in cases of emergency, and lengthy waits for appointments. Such delays prevent access to medical or surgical abortion within the legal time frames and undermine women’s reproductive choice. Additionally,...more

Countries: Italy
Variables: AFE-PRACTICE-1

"By March 10, 2020, all schools across Italy were closed in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus, affecting almost 11 million students. In May and June 2020, Human Rights Watch interviewed students, parents, and teachers about the effects on children’s education. As of January 28, 2021, schools had been completely closed in Italy for 93 days during the pandemic, and closed either in particular areas or for certain grades for an additional 89 days. During closures, schools offered distance learning alternatives, but some girls and young women said they found distance education less conducive to learning. Children with disabilities and children who had difficulty accessing devices or...more

Countries: Italy
Variables: CWC-DATA-3, CWC-DATA-4

"Material and technical support from Italy has enabled the Libyan Coast Guard, under the UN-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA), to intercept thousands of people at sea and return them to Libya where they face arbitrary, indefinite detention and a high risk of exploitation and violence, including rape. Despite clear and abundant evidence of widespread human rights violations and abuses suffered by migrants in Libya, the Memorandum of Understanding that provides the framework for Italy-Libya migration cooperation automatically renewed for another three years on February 2, 2020. To date, the GNA has not accepted cosmetic changes to the MoU, which Italy proposed shortly after its renewal, to increase protection for...more

Countries: Italy
Variables: DACH-PRACTICE-3

"During closures, schools offered distance learning alternatives, but some girls and young women said they found distance education less conducive to learning. Children with disabilities and children who had difficulty accessing devices or the internet for online learning were at a particular disadvantage in accessing education during school closures. These include girls, young women and trans and non-binary children and youth. School closures had disproportionate consequences for many students with disabilities, including girls, who often did not receive the accommodations they needed, making it harder for them to access the relevant tools and engage in remote classes. A support teacher in a vocational secondary school in Milan told Human Rights...more

Countries: Italy
Variables: GIC-LAW-3

"The law also offered some parents of children with disabilities additional time off work to support their children during school lockdowns" (8).

Countries: Italy
Variables: DACH-PRACTICE-1

"Some reproductive health services were suspended or relocated to provide space for Covid-19 patients. Reassignment of medical staff to Covid-19 wards and absence of personnel due to illness or self-isolation also led to reduced services" (4). "Law 194 obliges authorities to ensure that conscientious objection does not prevent fulfilment of legal requests for abortion, even if this necessitates relocating personnel... However, activists and doctors told Human Rights Watch that these measures are not upheld or enforced, including during the pandemic. In some cases, this impacted women’s access not only to abortion but to other essential reproductive health care" (5). "According to the March 30 Health Ministry circular, non-deferrable care during...more

Countries: Italy
Variables: ABO-LAW-1

"Although abortion has been legal in Italy since 1978, accessing the procedure is extremely difficult owing to the high number of gynaecologists who are moral objectors. Italy’s far-right government, which came to power last October, is against abortion, although the prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, said the law would not be changed" (para 15).

Countries: Italy
Variables: MARR-PRACTICE-1, MARR-LAW-1

"Article 544 of the Italian criminal code recognized a kind of marriage, the matrimonio riparatore, that would forgive the man for his crime and restore to the 'damaged' victim her honor and that of her family. Should she refuse to marry her abductor, the young woman would be further victimized as an unmarriagable outcast somehow to blame for her unfortunate circumstances" (para 6).

Countries: Italy
Variables: LRW-LAW-4

"Article 544 of the Italian criminal code recognized a kind of marriage, the matrimonio riparatore, that would forgive the man for his crime and restore to the 'damaged' victim her honor and that of her family. Should she refuse to marry her abductor, the young woman would be further victimized as an unmarriagable outcast somehow to blame for her unfortunate circumstances" (para 6). "Article 544, allowing a rapist to marry his victim for reparation, was finally repealed in 1981" (para 16).

Countries: Italy
Variables: SEGI-PRACTICE-3

"Legislation on topics beyond family issues, including a sweeping, government-backed security bill already approved by the lower house, takes aim at climate activists and labor unions by criminalizing protests that obstruct roads and railways, opponents say" (par. 11).

Countries: Italy
Variables: ACR-PRACTICE-1

"That and other aspects of the amended law may be hard to enforce. Even backers of the legislation concede that heterosexual couples may face few questions when returning to Italy with an infant, or when registering their child’s birth certificate with local municipalities. Who is to say that the woman in that couple didn’t deliver the baby while abroad? By contrast, an infant in the arms of same-sex parents — particularly two men — would amount to an obvious red flag" (par. 5). "'We wish for this example to be followed [by other countries],' she added. 'This is a civilized law that safeguards the child but also the woman, since...more