GREVIO, Group of Experts on Violence Against Women, the independent body of the Council of Europe that monitors the application of the Istanbul Convention in all countries that have ratified it, launched the monitoring and evaluation procedure in 2018 application of the Istanbul Convention on Gender-Based Violence and Domestic Violence, 5 years after its ratification by Italy.
Together with the government, called upon to submit a report to outline the initiatives undertaken to implement the various articles of the Convention, civil society has the opportunity to submit a report to GREVIO, the so-called Shadow Report. The procedure then includes monitoring visits to the country, meetings with institutions and civil society organizations, and is completed with the publication of the GREVIO Report on Italy.
D.i.Re, Women Networking Against Violence, was the reference association in Italy for the preparation of the "Shadow Report" for GREVIO.
To make known the contents of the GREVIO Report on Italy, D.i.Re launched the campaign in March 2020 "Violence against women. What state are we in ", which will explore 12 thematic areas over the course of a year, with the aim of stimulating institutions to implement the recommendations of the Council of Europe experts.
The GREVIO Report on Italy - 2020
The first was published on January 13, 2020 Report of the GREVIO experts on Italy, which describes the state of application of the Istanbul Convention in Italy and offers recommendations for its full implementation. The results of the monitoring carried out and the GREVIO recommendations to Italy presented in the Report (currently available in English only) are summarized in a press release of the Council of Europe in Italian.
D.i.Re on the same day released a Press release, in which he welcomed the GREVIO Report with satisfaction and underlined how it raises and deepens many of the critical issues highlighted by D.i.Re and by the other associations and experts who contributed to the drafting of the Shadow report, confirm the distance between the theory of the legislative system and practice, with elements of great criticality with respect to the effective implementation of the National Anti-violence Plan, the funding and the recognition of the role and methodology of anti-violence centers, the functioning of justice and services , also with reference to the PAS, the possibility of effective protection for women seeking asylum victims of violence after the entry into force of the Security Decree.
La Home for the reception of battered women in Milan, issued a communique Press, to highlight how the GREVIO experts express great concern about the request by the Lombardy Region to provide the tax code of women welcomed in the anti-violence centers, under penalty of exclusion from regional funding, a procedure that CADMI and other Lombard anti-violence centers of the network D.i.Re they refuse to acquit.
Also EuroMedRights, a European project dedicated to the respect and enhancement of human rights in the Euro-Mediterranean area with which D.i.Re collaborates, has published a Press release which underlines the main recommendations of GREVIO to the Italian government.
On June 16, 2020, the Department for Equal Opportunities was finally published Italian translation of the Report, although missing from the Appendices.
The shadow report - 2018-2019
On 29 October 2018, the Report of women's associations on the implementation of the Istanbul Convention in Italy.
Over 30 associations and experts active on the issues of the Istanbul Convention, coordinated by the lawyers Elena Biaggioni and Marcella Pirrone of D.i.Re, contributed to the drafting of the Report, which analyzes the Italian situation in terms of combating violence against women.
This relationship wants to be first and foremost one dialogue tool with the Council of Europe Expert Group on Violence (GREVIO) to allow them an in-depth monitoring of the Italian situation which, in addition to the Government report, also considers the point of view of civil society.
It therefore serves to highlight the critical issues all in relation to the implementation of the Istanbul Convention in Italy, but it is also thought of as work and lobbying tool for associations working in the sector.
This is an articulated and in-depth report that highlights the major criticalities of the application of the Istanbul Convention in Italy and the already accrued non-compliance with the indications of other international control bodies. It is divided according to the chapters and articles of the Istanbul Convention to facilitate its use for each specific need.
There are two main knots within an Italian cultural context strongly permeated by sexist prejudices and stereotypes: the distance between the rules adopted and declaim and their application concretely, the uneven application in the national territory of the rules and funding for actions / services in contrast to violence against women, with consequent lack of protection of the rights of victims of violence.
The Report also offers ideas for resolving critical issues and provides recommendations for constructive criticism.
Download here the Shadow Report for GREVIO in Italian.
Download here the Shadow Report for the Grevio in English.
The report was presented to the press on February 26, 2019, at the Foreign Press Association in Rome. Here are the details of the presentation and a little press review.
In view of the monitoring mission of the GREVIO experts, D.i.Re is collecting the adhesions to the Shadow Report by other associations, NGOs and structured movements while one was also proposed letter of adhesion from experts from the university and research world.
The monitoring visit of the GREVIO experts - March 2019
Before drafting his report on the Italian situation with respect to the application of the Convention, GREVIO experts carried out a monitoring visit to Italy in March 2019, with meetings with institutions, starting with the Department for Equal Opportunities, and with civil society organizations including D.i.Re and some anti-violence centers of the network to deepen what emerged from the report of the State and the shadow report of the associations.
What GREVIO is and how it works
GREVIO, the Group of Experts on Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence, is an independent body of the Council of Europe. She is responsible for monitoring the implementation of the Istanbul Convention, the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, ratified by the Italian government in 2013.
GREVIO's work is based on reports provided by governments and civil society (the so-called "shadow report"), to evaluate the legislative and political measures taken by the member states of the Council of Europe to fully and effectively implement the measures envisaged by the Istanbul Convention.
If it is necessary to intervene to prevent and put an end to practices of violence against women provided for in the Istanbul Convention and repeated, widespread and persistent in a given country, GREVIO can also initiate special investigation procedures. Both the periodic review of the implementation of the Istanbul Convention and these special investigative procedures end with the publication of Recommendations on specific topics and aspects of the Convention, sent to governments to implement the proposed measures to put an end to the practices of violence against women that persist in that country.