November 25th. Flag at half-mast on Wednesday Palazzo Marino for the elimination of violence against women
November 25th. Flag at half-mast on Wednesday Palazzo Marino for the elimination of violence against women
Colombo: “Symbol of Milan's commitment to the safety and respect of all women”. Rabaiotti: “We promote awareness initiatives and concrete actions to highlight requests for help”. Over a thousand new contacts with the anti-violence network in the first six months of 2020
Milan, November 24 2020 – On the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, an anniversary established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1999, tomorrow the civic flag will Palazzo Marino it will be displayed at half mast.
“A sign of mourning for the victims of feminicide, to express solidarity with their families – says Daria Colombo, mayor's delegate for gender equality – but also a symbol of our city's commitment to safety and the right to respect for all women. Milan was the leader in this choice and the example has already been followed over the years by many important Italian municipalities united in the 'Pact of municipalities for equality and against gender violence', launched in our city on 8 March 2018" .
Tomorrow, at 17pm, on the webtvradio pageIn common' on the institutional website of the Municipality of Milan, Daria Colombo will conduct an interview with Fabio Roia, a magistrate who has always supported women against violence, and with Miriam Pasqui, head of the Municipality's Anti-Violence Network. The interview, as part of the weekly column “Milano. The other look”, dedicated to addressing social issues from the female point of view.
Milan's commitment
There are 1.076 women who, in the first half of 2020, turned to the anti-violence network of the Municipality of Milan and were supported in the process of escaping violence. Of these, 760 came into contact for the first time with one of the nine anti-violence centers present in the city, with a 24% reduction (compared to the previous year) in requests for help in the months of March and April: given that it is due to the greater difficulty for women who suffer violence, often forced into the house with their abusers, to ask for help during the lockdown. In that same period, however, the work of the operators of the centers intensified (+36%) and supported and supported the women already in their care.
The majority of women intercepted (over 670) are aged between 20 and 49, but the number is also significantly high in the range between 50 and 69 (around 220). The women who have suffered mistreatment and domestic violence are, in 62% of cases, Italian and the violence suffered is almost always psychological (around 800) or physical (over 600), although there is no shortage of cases of economic violence (over 200), sexual (over 150) and stalking (over 100). Very often different types of abuse overlap and coexist. In 75% of cases the abusers are husbands, ex-husbands, cohabitants or ex-cohabitants, partners or ex-partners.
To these girls and women, the structures affiliated with the Municipality have offered hospitality, listening through telephone or on-site interviews, health care, legal assistance, psychological or psychiatric consultancy, in many cases facilitating their taking charge by the Social Services. Furthermore, 57 women supported by anti-violence centers were hosted in the nine shelters affiliated with the Municipality of Milan.
“The Municipality of Milan - comments the councilor for social and housing policies Gabriele Rabaiotti - is at the forefront in the fight against gender violence. The activities that we have been implementing for years, investing resources of over a million euros, aim on the one hand to promote awareness and information among citizens on these issues and, on the other, to support concrete and of the city network of shelter homes and anti-violence centers. An effort that the Administration and the network intensified during the lockdown when the network's shelter homes committed to continuing to welcome women in difficulty by ensuring adequate spaces for quarantine. We will work even harder to bring out requests for help and break down the wall of mistrust and fear that we often find ourselves facing in these cases."
Precisely with the aim of providing women with the information necessary to ask for help, the website of the Anti-Violence Network of the Municipality of Milan was created, operational from tomorrow, Wednesday 25 November. By connecting to the address www.reteantiviolenzamilano.it it will be possible to find out about the network's initiatives, the entities that are part of it and identify the centers and contact details on the city map.
The Anti-Violence Network will carry out a specific intervention to support foreign women, for whom the difficulties are often accentuated by the lack of knowledge of the language, services and their rights, as well as the isolation in which they often live. The Network therefore proposes an in-depth and training meeting aimed at cultural mediators sensitive to the topic.
The free meeting will take place on Friday 27 November, from 9 to 11 on the Zoom platform. Registrations for the course will be accepted by tomorrow by filling in the participation form.
Updated: 24/11/2020