Violence against Women Archives - International Alliance of Women

Italy Takes a Stand Against Violence

Valeria Mangani — Wed, 10 Dec 2025 01:09:33 +0000

Italy Passes a Landmark Anti-Violence Law:
A Turning Point for Women’s Protection

By Valeria Mangani
IAW Main Representative to F.A.O.

Italy has just taken an historic step in the protection of women by approving a comprehensive anti-violence law that redefines the country’s stance on gender-based violence. Although promoted by a conservative government, the reform marks an unexpected — and significant — evolution in Italy’s political landscape: a recognition that safeguarding women is not an ideological issue, but a national priority.

At the heart of the new law is the formal recognition of femicide as a distinct and aggravated crime, punishable with the highest penalties. For the first time, Italian legislation clearly names the phenomenon for what it is: the killing of a woman because she is a woman. This symbolic and legal shift breaks with decades of euphemisms and places Italy among the European countries with the strongest legal instruments against gender-based violence.

The law also accelerates protection mechanisms. Restraining orders can now be issued more rapidly; high-risk cases will be monitored more closely; and institutions will be required to intervene earlier, before violence escalates. It is an explicit acknowledgment that prevention is as crucial as punishment — and that women’s safety cannot depend on slow bureaucratic processes.

Perhaps the most transformative element is the parallel reform of sexual-violence law, introducing a definition rooted in the concept of free and actual consent. This brings Italy closer to the legal standards adopted across Northern Europe and signals a cultural shift: sexual autonomy is not assumed, inferred or negotiable — it must be explicitly respected. For a country where public debate on women’s rights has often been polarized, this is a profound change.

A conservative government taking an innovative step

What makes this moment remarkable is the political context. Italy is governed by a conservative majority, traditionally cautious toward legislative innovation in the field of gender equality. Yet this same government has chosen to champion a reform that expands women’s rights in a visible, structural and long-term way. It is probably no coincidence that the Prime Minister is a woman: Giorgia Meloni.

This decision reflects a broader awareness: violence against women has reached a point that transcends political divisions. It demands policy solutions that are strong, modern and aligned with the highest European standards. The government’s move can therefore be read not as a shift in ideology, but as a pragmatic response to a societal emergency — and as an attempt to position Italy as a country capable of leadership on gender protection.

A cultural, not only legal, milestone

Beyond its technical content, the law represents an evolution in Italy’s understanding of gender-based violence. It affirms that justice, dignity and safety for women are pillars of a civilized society. It acknowledges the reality of structural violence. And it recognizes that institutions must take responsibility not only for punishing harm, but for preventing it.

This reform will require implementation, training and public awareness. It will require a stronger network of social services, judicial responsiveness and community engagement. But the direction is clear: Italy has chosen to stand firmly on the side of women, with a law that is both protective and forward-looking.

Why this matters for the international community

For IAW and its global network, Italy’s decision carries an important message: progress can emerge even in political climates where it is least expected. When women’s safety becomes a national concern, when society demands change, and when governments choose innovation over inertia, transformative reforms become possible.

Italy’s new anti-violence law is more than legislation. It is a statement — that women’s lives are non-negotiable, that institutions must act decisively, and that cultural change is both urgent and achievable.

Editor’s comment:
Commons Photo Credit for Heading Picture:
Denisse Tramolao, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
More about installations of Red Shoes: https://www.elinachauvet.art/zapatos-rojos

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Support for the petition against sexual violence in sub-Saharan Africa

IAW Communications Unit — Thu, 06 Nov 2025 14:00:15 +0000

To the International Alliance of Women team,

Dear Madam, Sir,

I am sending you this message as an engaged citizen and as a voice for local coalitions working for social justice and the protection of human rights in Francophone Africa.

I want to express my strong support for your petition against sexual violence, which resonates deeply in our national contexts in transition. In sub-Saharan Africa, according to UNICEF data, more than 79 million women and girls have been victims of rape or sexual assault. One in five women is sexually abused before the age of 18. These alarming figures reflect a silent crisis, compounded by stigma, impunity and a lack of protection mechanisms.

In our States undergoing reconstruction, inaction in the face of this violence leads to:

A massive dropout of young girls;
Generational trauma that hinders social development;
A loss of confidence in judicial and health institutions;
A weakening of social cohesion, particularly in post-conflict areas.

Supporting your petition means affirming that the dignity of African women can no longer wait. It also means recognizing that justice for survivors is a critical pillar of sustainable peace and institutional legitimacy.

I am available to relay this initiative to local actors, parliamentarians and citizen organizations, in order to strengthen its impact in our political and community spaces.

With my respectful and supportive greetings,

Ilyassou Diallo
President of RAFEP Guinea, AIF focal point and mobilized for social justice and women’s rights, Conakry Guinea

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OPEN LETTER of IAW on Urgent Improvement of Peace Missions …

Alison Brown — Wed, 19 Feb 2025 22:28:09 +0000

... to prevent and eliminate VAWG by Peacekeepers!

Call for Action

Ensuring Human Rights for Women and Girls in Conflict Zones:

Oversight, Accountability, and Reform of the UN Peacekeepers

Two key Commissions of the International Alliance of Women — the Peace Commission and the Human Rights Commission—received credible information about women being raped and sometimes impregnated by UN peacekeepers in the MONUSCO peacekeeping mission. This information comes through reports by our members in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and media outlets. [1]

We are deeply concerned for the health, safety, and human rights of victims of these horrific events – the women, girls, and children born as the result of rape. Even worse, this shocking information echoes evidence of rape and trafficking in women by UN peacekeepers in the aftermath of the Balkan war.

Further, we are alarmed about the societal impact of this scandalous behavior on the reputation and effectiveness of the UN, the UN Security Council (UNSC), and all peacekeeping units and missions.

UN mandates are undermined by so-called peacekeepers who commit grave crimes against women and girls. Impunity for these crimes leads to more violence and undermines trust in judicial and political institutions. Without accountability for the perpetrators’ actions, women’s voices are not heard, and the cycle of violence continues.

International Alliance of Women therefore calls for immediate action by the UN, as follows:

The UN shall investigate and prosecute alleged perpetrators and put an end to impunity for alleged perpetrators for their violent crimes against women and girls to establish a sustainable peace.
The UN shall allocate adequate funds to update and improve training and instructional materials and methods regarding women’s human rights for its peacekeeping forces. This includes instructions to uphold UNSCR 1820 [2]: end war crimes against women, uphold women’s human rights, provide equal protection under the law and equal access to justice, promote women’s health and safety, and hold its own staff accountable for violations of these guarantees.

The UN shall evaluate and improve the selection process for members of its peacekeeping forces. This includes developing an early-warning system that identifies individuals with misogynist tendencies in order to proactively exclude such individuals from the peacekeeping units and missions. Further, all mission and unit supervisors, personnel observers, and ombudspersons must affirm that they will oversee peacekeeping forces to ensure the end to gender-based violence.

The UN shall supply women and girls, especially those living in conflict regions, with information flyers outlining their human rights and protections by the UN peacekeeping forces. The flyers shall include emergency numbers and contacts to ombudspersons to be used in case of threats or violence.

IAW further calls for oversight of the UN by the international community, as follows:

We urge the Global Alliance of the National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) and all National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) to accelerate the actions sought from the UN in national and regional governments.

We call on all National Machineries of the Advancement of Women (NMAW) to remind all entities and institutions, including the UN, of their responsibility to ensure women’s civil and human rights and ensure their protection under international, national, regional and local law.

IAW, supporting its Peace Commission and Human Rights Commission, calls on other Civil Society Organisations, especially, but not only, women’s rights and peace organisations to sign this open letter, and to use the text in whole or in part, to approach the above mentioned entities and their Member States with this and their proposals for safer peacekeeping missions.

In expectation of an energetic response from the addressed organisations to this continuing injustice, I wish you power and strength for the ensuing activity.

Alison Brown, President
International Alliance of Women (IAW)
Alliance Internationale des Femmes (AIF)

[1] 2025/01/07. https://www.passblue.com/2025/01/07/paternity-claims-against-peacekeepers-the-problem-that-wont-go-away/

[2] https://www.un.org/shestandsforpeace/content/united-nations-security-council-resolution-1820-2008-sres18202008

IAW Open Letter on UN peacekeeper rapes 2025

DOWNLOAD - SIGN - SPREAD

OPEN LETTER

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The International Alliance of Women’s Continued Response to the Israel-Hamas Conflict

IAW Communications Unit — Wed, 06 Dec 2023 21:58:06 +0000

GENDER BASED VIOLENCE

Since its inception, IAW has been working tirelessly to end gender-based violence in all its forms at national, regional, and international levels. Our Commission on Violence against Women is leading these efforts through advocacy campaigns, policy actions and programs to support vulnerable women and girls, especially in the context of national disasters or armed conflicts.

Over the years, we supported the struggles of the North American Indigenous women to fight the violence affecting them in their own communities and families. We promoted the WHO’s campaigns toward ending the barbaric practices of Female Genital Mutilation affecting hundreds of thousands of women and girls in Africa. We applauded the actions and public statements of our sisters from Cameroon aimed at eradicating gender-based violence in their community. We stood with the Iranian women and girls peacefully uprising against the violently imposed mandatory hijab and the killing of their sisters for incompliance with this draconian rule. We condemned the brutal sexual violence against Ukrainian women and girls by Putin’s military forces and stood with the victims and their families in demanding justice and the support of the international community.

Today, and every day since October 7^th, we have unequivocally stood with the women and girls of Israel victimized by the horrific atrocities and gender-based violence perpetrated by Hamas. We stand with them in expressing our outrage about Hamas’ barbaric rapes and other crimes of gender-violence committed against innocent Israeli women and girls at their peaceful homes, at a community event celebrating peace or while captive as hostages. We condemn these grave crimes against humanity and call for an international outrage against the perpetrators as well as collaborative efforts to bring them to justice. Our hearts go out to the victims, their families, and the entire Israeli community for the horrific trauma and loss of lives. In light of the recently commemorated International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, we call on all feminist organizations and international bodies to join the condemnation of the gender-based violence perpetrated by Hamas and demand for justice to be given to the victims.

PEACE

IAW and its Commission on Peace actively support the world-wide implementation of UN Security Resolution 1325, the subsequent United Nations Security resolutions for women, peace and security, and the United Nations efforts toward the implementation of the universal declaration recognizing the human right to peace. This implementation would further the strong commitment to build a culture of preventing war in the name of sustaining peace. It would help to protect the human rights defined in so many international treaties, but so often violated or completely lost in conflict.

With these principles in mind, we stand with all the civilized world in expressing shock and condemnation of Hamas’s violent assault on peace by the October 7 terrorist attack on the sovereign territory of Israel, murdering, mutilating, torturing, raping, and kidnapping Jewish, Muslim, and Christian men, women, and children, both Israeli and foreign nationals and taking 238 hostages in Gaza. We are terrified by the stories of horror and abuse shared by the released hostages and stand with the international community in demanding the immediate release of all those who are still in captivity. We urge the Red Cross and World Health Organization to visit them and ensure vital medical attention. We also call for provision of medical aid to the civilians injured in Gaza and return of the hospitals in Gaza to full functionality by restoration of power and water.

We urge the international bodies and national governments in the region to sustain the diplomatic efforts to restore peace. While we condemn Hamas’ use of civilians as a human shield and support the right of the Israeli state to defend itself and its citizens, we strongly oppose the Israeli government’s military response that puts in grave danger civilian lives, leads to the killing of thousands of innocent civilians, women, children, and men, and threatens to spread the war over the entire Middle East. We appeal for a diplomatic solution that will bring peace to the region and make the long-sought two state solution possible. Our thoughts remain with the affected families, yearning for security and peace. Every person has the right to safety and freedom as expressed in seminal United Nations documents.

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Durga Puja and the Strength of the Feminine

Anjana Basu — Fri, 27 Oct 2023 08:42:22 +0000

Calcutta celebrates Durga Puja

It was a time when evil reigned supreme in the world and the gods were powerless – so said the legends. The holy trinity of Hindu deities came together and in an explosion of rage created an all powerful woman goddess, Durga with the sole task of rooting out evil in the shape of a demon known as Mahishasura. Durga Puja is a celebration of women’s strength but what makes it ironic is the fact that women are treated in a way that is far from divine. They are abused, violated and trafficked while women goddesses – forms of Durga are worshipped across the nation. No one in fact, barring feminists, comments on the disparity. However, in Durga Puja pavilions, or pandals as they are called, in West Bengal, visitors do come across social critiques of the situation using the goddess and her surrounds as a metaphor through installation art. Subjects cover the rape of women in Manipur, the plight of migrant mothers and the horror that abused girl children face. What is quite clear is that visitors to pandals are well aware of the situation and understand what is being expressed with the worship of the goddess at the heart of each installation as an unexpressed plea for things to change.

The goddess Durga is the giver of strength, prosperity, bounty, whereas men apparently do not have the power to succeed without her blessings. Rama of the Ramayana called upon the goddess to help him defeat the demon Ravana who had kidnapped his wife Sita and she came to his aid, taking one of his eyes as payment – though she later replaced it.

A popular advertisement talked about Durga coming to visit strong women, though the examples cited were hardly pathbreaking, a woman commenting to a sneering elder who shames his son for staying at home with the children that child rearing is a task for fit for both sexes and not just women or a girl who has learnt to sing being requested to show her skill by another male elder only to be told that she is not a radio. There is a slight hesitancy in the media to be outspoken, a hesitancy which does not exist in the pandals thought there, admittedly, the protest in expressed in installation art through symbols rather than words.

The pandal in Kashi Bose Lane which focused on child trafficking won no awards though it shocked many sensitive visitors. Will the message of a powerful goddess capable of protecting her children win through? Who knows.

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World Day of Fight Against Sexual Exploitation

IAW Communications Unit — Sat, 04 Mar 2023 12:46:12 +0000

Since 2009, March 4th has been designated as the World Day of the Fight Against Sexual Exploitation

Every year on that day, hundreds of thousands of activists, community members and leaders around the globe recognize the importance of combating this heinous violation of human rights and reaffirm their commitment to fight it and expand services and protections for the survivors.

In the International law, “sexual exploitation” is defined as any actual or attempted abuse of a position of vulnerability, differential power, or trust, for sexual purposes, including, but not limited to, profiting monetarily, socially or politically from the sexual exploitation of another.

According to the International Labor Organization, close to 5 million people annually, exclusively female, are victims of forced sexual exploitation. Children comprise more than a fifth of all victims of commercial sexual exploitation. Male individuals are not immune either. A significant number of boys and young men get trapped in sexual exploitation as well. Members of the LGBT community are especially vulnerable due to stigma and lack of specialized services.

While understanding that sexual exploitation may any individual, we recognize that this grave violation of human rights, often amounting to the crime of human trafficking, is gendered, and rooted in structural discrimination and inequalities. We support the General Recommendation on Trafficking of Women and Girls in the Context of Global Migration, which was adopted by the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) Committee on 6 November 2020 and acknowledged that widespread trafficking in women and girls persists because of a lack of appreciation of the gender dimensions of trafficking, which leaves women and girls exposed to different types of exploitation, including sexual exploitation.

The CEDAW Committee’s affirmation that trafficking in women and girls is rooted in sex-based discrimination and is a form of gender-based violence, and consequently a function of abuse of male power and privilege, is critical to ensuring that responsibility and accountability is placed on perpetrators, and not on women and girls whose rights are being violated and need to be supported to exit sexual exploitation. Across all societies, persisting norms and stereotypes regarding male domination, and their control and power over women and girls enforce patriarchal gender roles and male sexual entitlement which generate the demand.

We support the CEDAW Committee’s analysis and recommendation, which encourages governments to address underlying structural gender and socio-economic inequalities that make women and girls vulnerable to exploitation. We also applaud the committee’s call on governments to address the demand that fuels the criminal market of human beings for sexual exploitation.

Eradicating sexual exploitation and human trafficking requires collective action and multidisciplinary collaboration on a global scale. The international Alliance of Women reaffirms its commitment to partner with stakeholders around the world in fighting this heinous violation of human rights and assisting the survivors.

Dr Antonia Lavine
IAW Treasurer
Coordinator of the San Francisco Collaborative Against Human Trafficking

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Adjoa Thérèse Akakpo on the Project Fiosron

IAW Communications Unit — Sat, 18 Feb 2023 03:04:18 +0000

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International Day for the Elimination of FGM – 2023

IAW Communications Unit — Sun, 05 Feb 2023 22:09:56 +0000

Commons Photo Credit: Source

"Zero Tolerance to FGM" originated on Feb. 6th, 2003.
20 Years passed but FGM is still an issue!

Call for involvement and commitment against female genital mutilation

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is recognized as a violation of the fundamental rights of girls and women, and is a reflection of deep-rooted gender inequality in some African countries for the preservation of their traditions. Since these mutilations are almost always practiced on minors, they also constitute a violation of the rights of the child. The consequences of this practice are enormous and affect the intimate life of women, their psychology, their physique and disturb their entire sexual life, health, etc. In some African countries where this custom is rampant, there are national laws to fight against all forms of violence against women but they are often not respected. FGM practiced on minors not only is violence against women, but also violence against children. We seek the involvement and commitment of communities to unite as one against these acts of FGM in order to promote the rights of children and eradicate this gender inequality. It is the national communities that must be informed, trained, sensitized in order to work against FGM, on the one hand, on the other hand, advocacy work by civil society actors must be organized and must be addressed to the heads of states of African countries in which this violation of law is still practiced. This concern should be one of the priorities of the United Nations Human Rights Commission. It is with these words that we commemorate the International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation this year 2023. Kinshasa, February 5, 2023 For NGO Vision Communautaire, Mrs. Ntakebuka Wilhelmine

We received this valuable contribution for publication directly from Ntakebuka Wene Mwafizi Wilhelmine, our Regional Vice President for Africa Francophone.

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International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation

IAW Communications Unit — Sun, 05 Feb 2023 22:00:08 +0000

“ We can STOP it NOW ”

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) comprises all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.
Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) is one of the most prevalent harmful cultural practices against women and girls in many African countries.
Female genital mutilation is a violation of the human rights, health, integrity and personal development of girls and women, stripping them off their childhood and excluding them from education.
FGM is often considered a necessary part of raising a girl, and a way to prepare her for adulthood and marriage. This can include controlling her sexuality to promote premarital virginity and marital fidelity.

What are the signs and symptoms of FGM?

Having difficulty walking, standing or sitting.
Spending longer in the bathroom or toilet.
Appearing quiet, anxious or depressed.
Acting differently after an absence from school or college.
Reluctance to go to the doctors or have routine medical examinations.

In my country, Cameroon, like in many other places, the purpose of female genital cutting is to ensure that a girl behaves properly, saves her virginity until she gets married and then stays faithful to her husband.
We identified reasons for the failure of the legal approach to stop FGC practice in Cameroon through multi-locale ethnographic field-work. Cultural and social factors for performing FGM

Why is it important to stop FGM?

FGM is a violation of girls’ and women’s rights

Briqueterie and Tsinga neighborhoods in Cameroon’s capital, Yaoundé, are the places where female genital mutilation, or FGM, is resurging because there is a high concentration of people from Kousseri on Cameroon’s northern border with Chad and Nigeria that believe in FGM as a way to keep women faithful to their husbands.
Our organization with many others civil society networks keep educating the communities that it is illegal and unhealthy to cut a girl’s clitoris.
The practice is actually current not only in the Far North region on Cameroon’s border with Nigeria, but also the English-speaking Southwest region where campaigns to stop FGM is always going on because we still have girls victims.
Government in Cameroon is also doing a great job to end the practice by providing funds to start other businesses to women that were practicing FGM on girls as their income generating activities. FGM is a crime, nobody should remain silent.

By Anne Pélagie YOTCHOU TZUDJOM
Coordinator of CEFAP-LADIES CIRLCE, IAW Water & Pads Project
IAW Board Member

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