Simonetta Matone

"The key milestone in this historical, political and legal journey is that we have come to understand that violating women's physical, mental, moral and economic integrity is a violation of human rights."

"We have come to understand that the scope of gender-based violence extends to reproductive violence, an issue we should consider in light of all the struggles our country has gone through on reproductive rights. We have also drawn up a convention on violence in the workplace, which covers not only the workplace itself but also attacks on sexual integrity."

"When it comes to gender-based violence, we should also reflect on the problem that weighs on our country, namely that we have rightly accepted the presence on our territory of citizens who are fully entitled to be here – because they hold residence permits and because they work and are part of the workforce we need. At the same time, however, we do not need to import into our country cultural models that are unacceptable and contrary to our public order."

"[...] In my view, specifically with regard to violence against women, there is a public order problem that no one is noticing, namely the introduction of unacceptable family models into a democratic system like ours."

"[...] Teachers are the first point of contact for a child experiencing violence; therefore, teachers need to be prepared and trained to recognise such signals – they need to be able to decipher a pattern, an issue, or a psychological attitude that is not right. The question is: are they capable of doing that today? From my personal experience, unfortunately, I have to say no, not least because the cumbersome procedures and the complexity of getting a report to its intended recipient are such that the system is effectively at a standstill."

"From the very beginning, from the very first moment it took office, the government led by Prime Minister Meloni has made our country's international position clear, choosing to show solidarity with Ukraine and acting in perfect continuity, without ambiguity and without hesitation, with the previous government."

"[...] Never before has so much money been spent on armaments. Of course, war makes things worse, as it encourages everyone to allocate even more resources to that area. Why is this happening? It is happening because there is more fear – fear which, instead, should be driving renewed efforts to persuade the warring parties to move towards a negotiated end to the conflict [...] The ongoing war in Ukraine and its economic, food and energy consequences have highlighted our shared vulnerabilities. We have all discovered that we are weaker when war is raging around us, not least because, in the face of the fear and the costs brought about by the conflict, not everyone can resist the temptation to act alone to protect themselves better, even at the expense of others."