The 25th of November, is a very important date, linked to the assassination of the Mirabal sisters, during the Dominican regime of Rafael Leonidas Trujillo in 1960. In 1999, the UN General Assembly decided to institutionalize this event in order to never forget it. A useful day to increase awareness, but also to recap and check if after this event there has been real progress and concrete improvement from the institutional point of view.
Even if it is never pleasant to remember numbers, today we have to. Society is apparently stuck in a deep-rooted immobility that doesn’t encourage women to denounce what happens to them. On the contrary, the only possible choice for a woman that has been subject to violence, both physically and morally, is silence. And if we talk about the figures, they are frightening, a sign that we must not forget and we must act.
Warning data: from Italy and UN
According to the UN “one in three women is beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused by an intimate partner in the course of her lifetime”. The WHO research in 2013 recalls that 35% of women have undergone physical and / or sexual violence, and 70% of women have been abused by their partners.
In Italy, 35% of women, between 16 and 70 years old, have been violeted or raped.
During the 25th of November, in Italy, there are many initiatives to support women, and this day is also associated with art, literature and theatre, as well as initiatives to make people meditate on what is constantly happening. It is a day in which authorities need to be present, and the Parliament and the Prime Minister participated actively with a video: “100% against violence on women”, a strong title, that shows no tollerance for any form of violence.
At the end of the video, there is a number to call if you are subjected to any kind of violence, 1522, active 24/7 and promoted by the Department for Equal Opportunities. With regards to this, we have questioned ourselves, and we thought that is not enough just to condemn these acts, but it is fundamental to grant assistance and protection to whoever reports violence.
The Istanbul Convention: the right to have no fear
How much do institutions, the government and the entire society support a woman in the period that goes from the act of reporting violence or raping to its inevitable consequences? Acts of violence must be reported, but first of all there should be a fundamental right, the right to have no fear.
That’s where the Istanbul Convention comes in: it guarantees protection for women who decide to fight. In particular, articles 49, 50, 51, 52 and 53 of the Convention contemplate assistance during the diffult process of denunciation, ensuring rights as precautionary measures, removal order and the crime communication. The Convention is a binding international act, that became law in Italy the 1st of August 2014, but that during the judicial procedures is still not applied. In particular, female lawyers from the national association Di.Re, report that the operators involved in the violation of the article49 and 50 of the Convention and the police do not always take immediate action , and they don’t immediately inform the DA’s office, and this is really demotivating for a woman that decides to report any kind of violation.
Orange the world: #orangetheworld
The 25th of November is also and above all an International Day, a fight that concerns the whole world and all the living creatures, beyond their gender differences. The right to be free and to fully live anyone’s existence goes beyond place , space and sex. This year, the UN Secretery has invited institutions, organizations and people from all over the world to join “Orange the world“, 16 days, from the November 25 to December 10. During this period, cultural initiatives and events can be organized, and the common element must be the orange color. The color of the future, able to blur and obscure legislations by giving space to sharing. Once again, a strong movement comes from the Internet. It’s enough to take a picture with some orange elements in it, like clothes or objects, or it’s enough to post a sentence, a thought so that the message can arrive loud and clear. Let’s not forget that this is just the beginning, let’s not surrender to bad statistics and data, but let’s raise and keep our motivation high and strong, let’s make our rights sound off loud and clear. Also, let’s change our way of being women in our daily lives, with our families, with our colleagues, in the relationship with our men, because it is from these normal and daily acts that the most important fights should begin.
Michela Di Nuzzo
« Se scrivo ciò che sento è perché così facendo abbasso la febbre di sentire». - Fernando Pessoa Giornalista e co-founder, vivo il digital come imprenditrice e appassionata. Percepisco il cambiamento come un'opportunitá mai una minaccia. Occhi spalancati e orecchie aperte, sempre pronta alla condivisione, la chiave di ogni evoluzione.
