Rome, Nov 24 (AFP) Italian police today launched acampaign to reduce the murder rate against women, which hasremained stubbornly high despite a decline in the total numberof homicides over recent years.
Entitled "This is not love", the campaign was launched onthe eve of the UN-backed International Day for the Eliminationof Violence Against Women.
Italy recorded 149 female murder victims last year,barely changed from the 150 recorded in 2007. Femicides nowaccount for 37 per cent of the total compared to 24 percent adecade ago.
Not all killings of women are motivated by the victim'sgender, but sexual assaults and domestic violence are keyelements in the overall picture.
And official figures on these type of crimes representonly the tip of the iceberg.
Female victims often hesitate to file charges "for fearof being judged" or "because they are ashamed to revealdetails of their intimate lives," according to a new bookletcontaining revised guidelines for forces dealing with crimesof violence against women.
The guidelines include new requirements for registeringreports of domestic violence, designed to ensure incidentsthat don't necessarily lead to charges being pressed are kepton file.
"It is not enough to apply the law, we also have toassure women (making complaints) are welcomed, informed andsupported in a way that enables them to escape the conditionsof subservience and isolation they sometimes find themselvesin," notes national police chief Franco Gabrielli.
The material to be delivered to forces around the countryincludes testimony from officers specialised in dealing withthe victims of domestic violence.
"I'll never forget the faces of the women I've had in myoffice over the years, and above all their voices when they'vetold me they feel responsible for what has happened to them,"recounts Rosaria Maida, a deputy police commissioner inPalermo, Sicily.
Instances of acid attacks by spurned lovers and otherexamples of violence against women are covered prominently bythe Italian media and often cited as evidence of anunreconstructed macho culture in the country.
Official figures do not indicate that women are more atrisk of attack in Italy than elsewhere but campaigners on theissue say this could partly reflect under-reporting of crimeslinked to a culture of victim-shaming. (AFP)KIS.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.