Italy lets down abused women, say campaigners

Responding to the persistent problem of violence against women, Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta came up with "very harsh, very tough" measures to counter domestic abuse and what he called "femicide", the killing of women because they are women, often at the hands of current or former husbands or boyfriends.

The 12-point decree, effective immediately, sets stricter penalties for the perpetrators of domestic abuse, sexual violence and stalking, and it expands protections for some of the most vulnerable women, including immigrants who lack residency permits.

"We think that in our country it is necessary to send a strong signal" to combat domestic violence, Letta said when he announced the measures on August 8. Following a spate of widely reported attacks on women, the decree was "a sign of radical change on the issue", he said.

But new attacks in the wake of Letta's announcement have bolstered criticism from victims' advocates who say that stiffer penalties alone are not enough to protect women and stem domestic violence.

This past week, a woman in northern Italy was fatally stabbed by her former partner who then hid her body in his car, a Sicilian woman was murdered in front of her child by her former husband who then committed suicide, and a man whose motives are still unknown threw acid on a woman's face in Genoa.

More than 80 women have been killed so far this year, most of them by husbands, boyfriends or former partners, according to an unofficial tally kept by the Italian news media. Many of the victims had called the police to report episodes of stalking or harassment. About 75 per cent of the 2,200 women murdered from 2000 to 2012 - roughly one murder every two days - were killed by partners or former partners, according to a study carried out by Eures, an EU agency that monitors social affairs and employment issues, in collaboration with the Ansa news agency.