Rome, Europe Brief News – The number of femicides in Italy has risen by almost 16% over the past year, with the vast majority taking place in a family context.e
Data published by the interior ministry on Monday showed 125 femicides between 1 August 2021 and 31 July 2022, compared with 108 during the same period in the previous year.
Of that figure, 108 of the murders were committed in a “family-emotional” setting, with 68 women killed by either their partner or former partner.
The data shows a woman is killed on average every three days in Italy.
On 27 July, Marzia Bettino, 58, was killed in her home in Genova. Her husband was arrested. The couple had been going through a separation when she was killed. Two days earlier Valentina Di Mauro, 33, was killed in her home near Lake Como. Di Mauro’s partner has been arrested.
“The interior ministry data speaks for itself: if other crimes are decreasing, femicides are going up,” said Elisa Ercoli, the president of the Differenza Donna, an organisation that aims to combat gender-based violence and promotes women’s rights. “This is a clear consequence of a total underestimation of institutional policy for this type of crime.”
Based on 2018 data, a report published last November by the European Institute for Gender Equality placed Italy ninth out of 15 EU countries for the number of murders of women by partners or former partners and 10th for femicides committed by relatives.
