Italy Approves Landmark Law Against Femicide

Italy's Parliament on Tuesday approved a law that introduces femicide into the nation's criminal law and punishes it with life in prison. The vote coincided with the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, a day set by the UN General Assembly. The law won bipartisan support from the center-right majority and the center-left opposition in the final vote in the body's lower chamber, passing with 237 votes in favor, reports the AP. The law, backed by the conservative government of Premier Giorgia Meloni, comes in response to a series of killings and other violence targeting women in Italy.

The law includes stronger measures against gender-based crimes, including stalking and revenge porn. Big cases like the 2023 murder of college student Giulia Cecchettin have been key in widespread public outcry and debate about the causes of violence against women in Italy's patriarchal culture. "We have doubled funding for anti-violence centers and shelters, promoted an emergency hotline, and implemented innovative education and awareness-raising activities," Meloni said Tuesday. "These are concrete steps forward, but we won't stop here. We must continue to do much more, every day."

Italy's statistics agency Iast recorded 106 femicides in 2024, 62 of them committed by partners or former partners. The debate over introducing sexual and emotional education in schools as a way to prevent gender-based violence has become heated in Italy. A law proposed by the government would ban sexual and emotional ed for elementary students and require explicit parental consent for any lessons in high school. (Some sobering femicide stats from the UN.)