Violence against women

24.11.2015

Question for written answer E-015000-15
to the Commission
Rule 130
Alessandra Mussolini (PPE)

Almost seven million Italian women have been subjected to physical or sexual violence at least once in their lives — close to one in three in the 16-70 age group. In the first seven months of this year, 74 women were killed by men with whom they were in a relationship or who were members of their family and more than five million acts of harassment were reported. These figures do not include psychological violence such as stalking and threats. The data published by Istat, the Italian statistics office, show the situation to be worse for foreign women living in Italy, who, in particular, are more often the victims of rape and attempted rape than Italian women (7.7%, as against 5.1%). Women from Moldova, Romania and Ukraine are at greatest threat. In view of this situation, there is still a very obvious need for a day to say ‘no’ to such violence — the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, which falls on 25 November each year and commemorates the brutal murder in 1960 of the three Mirabal sisters, who have become international symbols of women's resistance because of their struggle against the Trujillo dictatorship in the Dominican Republic.

1. Can the Commission provide details of any other studies on violence against women that have been conducted in other Member States?

2. Can it also provide details of strategies that have proved effective in combating such violence?