Gender violence: data on the phenomenon are not systematic, but calls to 1522 are increasing

ROMA – Since last Thursday, many buildings have been lit up with the colors red and orange in view of this day against violence against women, which mobilizes the consciences of an evolved and civilized community, so that we never lower our guard against aggression, mistreatment, humiliation, harassment, economic disparity and murder. Today throughout Italy, but also throughout Europe, there are numerous demonstrations in response to this tragic phenomenon. Alongside the regulatory instruments – they all underline the humanitarian organizations – a profound cultural change is needed, which must have its strengths, once again, within the family and in the school.

Some data. The data released byRights Observatory – independent online newspaper specializing in investigations, analyzes and insights on the topic of human rights in Italy and around the world, edited by journalists together with lawyers and university centers – inform us on the trend of gender homicides in 2024 and in previous years. In 2023, 112 crosses had been planted, relating to as many feminicides, compared to one hundred this year. There has been a decrease, but it is not at all reassuring. The decline in feminicides this year also coincided with a decrease in murders of men: 172, 8% less than last year’s partial figure: on the same date today there were 187 killed. In 2022 as of November 22, 114 women and 173 men had been killed, in 2021 115 and 164 respectively.

Femicides, the numbers, the cruelest month and the age of the victims. For women – we still read on the website Rights Observatory, the most tragic and bloodiest month of 2024 was September: the murderers of girls and adults – all men, with one exception – struck 17 times in 30 days, after the summer holidays. There was no month of respite during the year. We also note the significant percentage of victims – and also of suicides and suspects – of the elderly.

The macabre counting by age and family relationships. Thirty-seven women were over 65 when they were killed; 13 were over 80 years old. In these age groups, in 19 crimes the murder occurred at the hands of the husband or a partner; for another 13 cases it was the son, for 4 it was a nephew, a former son-in-law, street crime, or a person with mental disorders. The women killed in couple crimes were in various cases sick, bedridden, suffering, with husbands who were exhausted or without help or in turn in poor health.

The identikit of the perpetrators of femicide. 53 feminicides are attributed to partners and ex-partners. Still others are attributed to family members and relatives: 17 to sons and one to a daughter, 5 to mothers, 3 to fathers and 3 to nephews, 2 to brothers-in-law, one to a son-in-law, one to a brother. For all perpetrators, whether they confess or not, the presumption of not guilt should apply until final convictions. Quite a few have taken their own lives – it is underlined in Diiritti Observatory – psychiatric assessments have been ordered for some of the survivors, which could lead to the recognition of the total or partial inability of understanding and will and non-imputability, where applicable.

Group violence. But various analyzes also tell us that the protagonists of these murders are often very young and the data is alarming. In fact, gang violence against those who can only be defined as girls, aged 14, 15 or 16, is on the increase. More generally, the statistics – which are not systematic, but rely on data that arrive fragmented and impossible to cross-reference with those that arrive, for example, from hospitals, carabinieri, police, anti-violence centers – tell us that the victims are on average young people under 35 years old: two out of three sexual assaults. But what is particularly striking is the impressive increase in gang violence against girls, even under the age of 13, which has increased from 4 to 10% in the last 5-6 years.

The killers are getting younger and younger. The vast majority of young people who commit this type of crime, often very young, are judged responsible for group sexual violence: it is known that 65% are under 35 years of age and of these even 1 in 4 is a minor.

An uncertain analysis due to the lack of systematicity of the data. In fact, says the first president of the Court of Cassation, Margherita Cassano, interviewed this morning during the 8 o’clock Gr on Radio 1. “We do not yet have an implementation law on the activation of all the data relating to violence against women. Not having these databases and above all not having the possibility of cross-referencing the data of different authorities, such as the hospitals that intervene, or reports of injuries, or other, any analysis, in the absence of this, does not allow us to have a overall picture and therefore the examination of the phenomenon becomes in itself uncertain”.

The anti-violence centres, the emergency number 1522 and the “Cecchettin Effect”. In the aftermath of the murder of Giulia Cecchettin – 11 November last year – the number of calls for help to the number increased by 116%. 1522, the dedicated emergency number of the Presidency of the Council: 1024 reports of violence suffered compared to 489 in the same period of the previous year, requests for information increased fivefold (6,473 against 1,292). More generally, in 2023 the requests for help to 1522 there were 51,000, compared to 21,000 in 2019.

Funding for anti-violence centres. But women’s aid centers receive only 3% of their funding from the state. Some are on the brink of closure. The construction of a real and efficient protection network for women who manage to have the courage to report violent and pre-homicidal behavior does not seem to be a priority, neither for this government, nor for previous ones, in truth. Above all, there is a lot of uncertainty in the arrival of funds through the Regions, some of which have virtuous behaviour, while others seem to have other thoughts.

Hospitality is fundamental. Being able to leave the phenomenon of gender violence behind involves a complicated path that must be managed by competent people and within adequate structures, it is the refrain which accompanies all discussions on the subject. Antonella Veltri also underlined this – again during an interview on Gr1 at 8 this morning – she who directs the DiRe Anti-Violence Center stated: “there are 117 places in Italy where women victims of violence can turn and which in one year have welcomed over 20 thousand women. Reception is the fundamental activity of the Centres, but not the only one – specified Antonella Veltri – we also work on male culture, the basis of this type of violence, we carry out training and go to schools to talk to the kids” .

Economic violence. The disparity in economic treatment between genders is also to be considered a form of violence, which is very widespread in Italy. The nightmare of not knowing how to carry on alone and perhaps with children, after having reported a violent partner or husband, belongs to emergency situations, which – apparently, out of their goodness – even the banks seem to want to address through mechanism of “Words of inclusion”.

The goal is reintegration. This is a new initiative to prevent and combat gender-based economic violence promoted byABI (Italian Banking Association) and from Foundation for financial education and savings (FEduF) with the Department for Equal Opportunities of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers. The objective is the economic reintegration of women victims, encouraging the repayment of credits, also together with the sector trade unions, and microcredit, promoted together with the Department for Equal Opportunities of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, theNational Microcredit Institution, Federcasse e Italian Caritas.