Statement by President Mattarella to celebrate the International Day For The Elimination Of Violence Against Women

ThePresidentof theRepublic, Sergio Mattarella,released the following statement to mark the International Day ForThe Elimination Of Violence Against Women:

«Dramatic events are stirringthe Country's conscience. A human society founded on criteria of civilization cannot accept or put up with anincessant streamof aggressions against women, whennot their assassination.

The incurable grief and sorrow of wounded families and communities is a causeofdistressto everybody.

When faced with the murder of a woman, the broken life of a young woman,withpersonswho areverbally or behaviourally abusedin their everyday life, in their family, in their workplace, and in school, we perceive behind this violence the failure of a society that is incapable of promoting truly egalitarian relationships between men and women.

The International Day ForThe Elimination Of Violence Against Women calls on everyone to renew their personal commitment.

Makeshift social psychology analyses are of no help in justifying a persisting plague that won't heal despite the efforts made.

We need the joint effort and contribution of Institutions, of associations, and of the world of production, education,and culture to uproot a phenomenon that underminesthe pact underlying our very concept of community.

The mere number of women who suffer aggressions and abuse disclosesthe existence of a phenomenon that is not only linked to abnormal situations. Therefore,we cannot limit ourselves to show our outrageintermittently.

We are far from having implemented the deep-reaching cultural change enshrined in our Constitution.

Apathin which men and women come togetherto build a better humanity in diversity and solidarity, knowing thatthere can be nolove without respect and without accepting the freedom of the beloved. It is a process in which women acquire equality because they are free to grow, free to know, andfreeto be free as laid down in the Istanbul Convention ratified by the European Union whichis an important reflection of a universal vision of women's self-determination and equal rights and a decisive step in setting up the policy framework for opposing gender-based violence. »