From economic to digital violence, more protection

The latest in order of time, on 29 April, was the report on electronic bracelets, which approved four macro-guidelines and 16 detailed indications, including 'the increase in the number of devices that can be activated monthly' and the possibility of 'making use of a Centralised Operations Room capable of sorting out alerts'. The agenda of the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry into Femicide is thus enriched. Just before that, in fact, on 22 April, there had been the report 'on the digital dimension of gender violence', whose final conclusions included 'the proposal to introduce a criminal offence punishing the dissemination of sexually explicit content generated with artificial intelligence systems (deepnude)'. While the report on gender-based economic violence, adopted on 15 April, defined the proposal 'to include in the criminal code - in particular in the wording of the offence referred to in Article 572 of the Criminal Code (ill-treatment in the family) - the concept of "economic violence" as a way of integrating the offence, codifying a direction of the jurisprudence of legitimacy that is still not widespread among the judges of merit'. Among the indications also that of 'introducing the autonomous case of "coercive control" aimed at punishing the conduct of obsessive monitoring of the partner even in relation to family expenses of minimal amounts'.

An important turning point was the green light last August for the report on 'orphans of feminicide'. Fifteen objectives were set for the legislator, starting with the need for exhaustive and up-to-date mapping: in this sense, 'the establishment of a national register, a data bank or a registry of orphans to analyse the dimensions of the phenomenon, the qualitative-quantitative aspects, the risk factors' is envisaged, but also more protection on the economic support front by establishing specific training and by including 'the simplification of the bureaucratic process concerning the procedures for accessing funds and compensation in favour of feminicide orphans'. Upstream, in July 2024, the 'reconnaissance of the regulatory frameworks on preventing and combating gender-based violence for the drafting of a single text'. It was a preparatory step, explained Commission Chairwoman Martina Semenzato, to the adoption 'of the Consolidated Text in schools of any order and grade, starting from childhood, through diversified didactic tools, such as the illustrated single text' and 'completing the educational offer with self-assessment tests, also through the support of new technologies'. The next report to be awaited will concern the comparison between Italian regulations and those of other countries.