Violence against women, Schlein: ‘Cross-party law for cultural revolution in the country’

Rome, 19 November (LaPresse) – ‘We are delighted with this major step forward for the country, a small but significant cultural revolution.’ These were the words of PD secretary Elly Schlein following the approval of the law against violence against women, on free consent. ‘Finally, the principle of free and current consent, which did not exist before, has been incorporated into Italian law,’ she added. Finally, it is clarified that any sexual act without consent is violence, is rape, and therefore is a crime. This is also very important to clarify that the absence of explicit dissent is not enough to infer consent. And with this inclusion of free consent in the law, it is made clear that Italian society does not tolerate non-consensual sexual acts.” ‘It was an important, cross-party effort, which is why we spoke with the Prime Minister,’ she adds, “and our rapporteurs, Michela De Biase and Carolina Varchi, did an excellent job. It was cross-party work because, as we always maintain, when it comes to combating gender-based violence, we need to be able to put aside our strong political differences and try to take the country forward in order to combat and prevent it. The difference is that previously, the crime of sexual violence only referred to violence or threats, so rape was measured by the strength of the attacker rather than the violation of the victim’s freedom. From this point of view, it is an important innovation that naturally follows the jurisprudence of the Court of Cassation, which had already intervened on this issue, but finally this principle is also enshrined in law and in this way implements the Istanbul Convention, which, as you know, is already law in Italy, and so we are very happy with this result achieved together and with this great cultural step forward for the country’.