The President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, has issued the following statement:
« The United Nations General Assembly established twenty years ago the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women to draw public attention to a systematic violation of human rights, an obstacle to the cohesion and full development of a society.
Since then, the international community's commitment to preventing this phenomenon and supporting the victims of violence has grown. Much has also been done within our country: violence against women is an issue for the attention of the legislator capable of leading individual initiatives and collective projects.
However, violence against women does not stop being a public emergency and therefore the awareness of the gravity of the phenomenon must continue to grow. Women continue to be subject to harassment, victims of evident tragedies and unspoken abuses because they often occur within families or by people they know.
Moreover, belittling the value of a woman and not recognizing her credit in public and private life - through inappropriate languages and acts of intentional discrimination - are factors that can encourage a climate of violence.
This means that there is still much to be done. Every woman must feel the institutions are close to her. We all need to do everything we can to prevent this phenomenon, to provide practical support for victims and their children, to strictly apply existing measures, to find the necessary resources and to develop what is needed to identify and fight the signs of mistreatment of women».
