The Senate unanimously approved the text of the Roccella bill with new measures to combat gender-based violence, with 157 votes. The measure, already approved by the Chamber, is law. At the end of the vote, a long round of applause broke out from the Chamber, which, however, registered numerous absences in yesterday’s session. The final vote took place at the end of a complex agenda procedure, relating to some of the 19 articles of the bill, with attempts at agreement between the majority and opposition forces, including reformulations and withdrawal of some of the texts presented. Regarding the majority’s agenda, the text signed for the first time by Malan received the green light from Azione and Italia Viva, while the M5S opted to abstain, as did the Pd and also Alleanza Verdi Sinistra. In the majority text, the government undertakes to “evaluate the opportunity to include education respectfully in school programs, with the full involvement of parents, from lower secondary education onwards, also through emotional and sentimental training, which makes individuals more aware of their emotions and actions designed to create the conditions for healthier and more balanced human loving and family relationships.”
The Minister of Family and Equal Opportunities, Eugenia Roccella, was very pleased: «I already said after the vote in the Chamber that seeing, since the first vote on the articles of the law, all the green lights that came on was a real emotion, and even more so today, at the time of the final vote. This law introduces measures that can make, in many cases, the difference between life and death. These are rules that intervene more in prevention than in repression, to facilitate the use of precautionary measures, to reinforce them, to guarantee certain and short deadlines by the judiciary, because we know that all this, the speed in assessing risks and taking Appropriate protective measures can actually save lives.
Not all, of course. They could not have saved Giulia Cecchettin, for example, nor other women who did not suspect the violence that burned in the heart of the man who claimed to love them, who did not receive any sign of risk from those whom Giulia’s sister defined as “good guys “.
And it is certainly necessary to intervene on many other fronts if we want to produce the necessary cultural change, if we want to break what not a feminist, but a great Pope defined as “the yoke of domination of one sex over the other”.
This law reinforces victim protection, increasing attention to “espionage crimes” and ignoring preventive protection measures (alert, electronic bracelet, minimum approach distance of 500 meters).
There are also strict deadlines for adopting precautionary measures and for processes relating to stalking, violence and mistreatment caused by partners or ex-partners. Among the new features is arrest for up to 48 hours in “deferred detention” thanks to new technologies that will allow demonstration via chat or audio and video.
But also specialization of magistrates dedicated to cases of violence against women, training of police operators in contact with victims, emergency removal from the family home even outside of flagrant cases. Furthermore, the obligation to immediately inform the offended party in the event of release and a provisional provision as advance compensation in favor of the victims are established. Meanwhile, the film “There is still tomorrow”, by Paola Cortellesi, will be shown in the Senate today.
The initiative was promoted by President La Russa in view of November 25th, a day dedicated to combating feminicides.
Source: IL Tempo
Emma Fitzgerald is an accomplished political journalist and author at The Nation View. With a background in political science and international relations, she has a deep understanding of the political landscape and the forces that shape it.
