(Italy) Treaty to combat 'men, vile and without dignity'
Treaty to combat 'men, vile and without dignity'
Italy ratified a treaty combating violence against women on Wednesday in a bid to redress an escalating trend of attacks including a spate of acid crimes against female victims.
The 2011 Istanbul Convention aims to "prevent violence, protect victims and punish the guilty," Italian Foreign Minister Emma Bonino said.
The treaty has been signed by 25 Council of Europe member states but has so far only been ratified by Turkey, Albania, Portugal, Montenegro and now Italy.
It needs to be ratified by 10 countries - eight of which need to be members of the Council of Europe - for it to take effect.
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Its measures to improve prevention and protection include "granting police power to remove perpetrators from the home" and improving resources such as "shelters, telephone hotlines, specialist support services, crisis centres, and legal assistance."
In 2012, some 120 women were murdered in so-called femicide attacks in Italy, and a third of all women here are victims at some point of domestic violence according to a UN report, which cites data from the national statistics agency (ISTAT).
http://www.thelocal.it/20130620/treaty-to-combat-men-vile-and-without-dignity
