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At least 114 women were murdered in Italy this year

The Local Italy
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At least 114 women were murdered in Italy this year
People in Rome mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women in 2016. Photo: Filippo Monteforte/AFP

In the first ten months of 2017, 114 women were murdered in Italy, according to a report released on Thursday.

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That translates to a rate of more than one murder every three days, said Italian research institute Eures in a presentation to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women on November 25th.

The percentage of women among Italy’s total murder victims has never been higher, Eures said: it stands at 37 percent now compared to 26 percent in 2000.

Last year 150 women were murdered over the whole of 2016, up from 142 in 2015. The worst year of the past decade, though, was 2013 – when a total of 179 women were murdered.

Some 3,000 women have been murdered in Italy since 2000.

In contrast with previous years, which have seen most female victims in the south of Italy, last year most women were killed in the north.

Lombardy had the highest number of victims, with 25, followed by Veneto with 17. Calabria was third with 16 victims, though it was still an improvement on 2015, when 31 women were murdered in the region.

"Women should not find themselves having to leave social networks or accept violence against them. I say to them: report it, we're in a state where you have rights and the law will defend you" – Speaker of the Italian Chamber of Deputies Laura Boldrini.

"To non-violent men, I say: break the silence. The battle against femicide can only be won if we're together."

More than three-quarters of women murdered were killed by a partner or family member, Eures said. According to the institute, possessiveness, jealousy, isolation and social hardship are some of the main contributing factors.

In 2012, the United Nations called domestic abuse “the most pervasive form of violence in Italy”. The government has since adopted an ‘anti-femicide' law – but violence against women remains pervasive amid a culture of patriarchy that ignores or excuses abuse as a normal part of male-female relationships, and in country where education on healthy sex and relationships is often lacking. 

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