The Daily Populous Wednesday November 26th, 2025 morning edition
Authored by apnews.com and submitted by Not-Somebody-Famous

Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.

Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share

ROME (AP) — Italy’s parliament on Tuesday approved a law that introduces femicide into the country’s criminal law and punishes it with life in prison.

The vote coincided with the international day for the elimination of violence against women, a day designated by the U.N. General Assembly.

The law won bipartisan support from the center-right majority and the center-left opposition in the final vote in the Lower Chamber, passing with 237 votes in favor.

The law, backed by the conservative government of Premier Giorgia Meloni, comes in response to a series of killings and other violence targeting women in Italy. It includes stronger measures against gender-based crimes including stalking and revenge porn.

High-profile cases, such as the 2023 murder of university student Giulia Cecchettin, have been key in widespread public outcry and debate about the causes of violence against women in Italy’s patriarchal culture.

Activists perform on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, in Rome, Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025 (Roberto Monaldo/LaPresse via AP) Activists perform on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, in Rome, Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025 (Roberto Monaldo/LaPresse via AP) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share Share Facebook

“We have doubled funding for anti-violence centers and shelters, promoted an emergency hotline and implemented innovative education and awareness-raising activities,” Meloni said Tuesday. “These are concrete steps forward, but we won’t stop here. We must continue to do much more, every day.”

While the center-left opposition supported the law in parliament, it stressed that the government approach only tackles the criminal aspect of the problem while leaving economic and cultural divides unaddressed.

Italy’s statistics agency Istat recorded 106 femicides in 2024, 62 of them committed by partners or former partners.

The debate over introducing sexual and emotional education in schools as a way to prevent gender-based violence has become heated in Italy. A law proposed by the government would ban sexual and emotional education for elementary students and require explicit parental consent for any lessons in high school.

The ruling coalition has defended the measure as a way to protect children from ideological activism, while opposition parties and activists have described the bill as “medieval.”

“Italy is one of only seven countries in Europe where sex and relationship education is not yet compulsory in schools, and we are calling for it to be compulsory in all school cycles,” said the head of Italy’s Democratic Party, Elly Schlein. “Repression is not enough without prevention, which can only start in schools.”

TheMooseIsBlue on November 25th, 2025 at 21:11 UTC »

For those that aren’t reading the article, this is different from murder, which is already illegal there. Femicide is specifically targeting a woman for being a woman. This law makes it a hate crime

It’s similar to if I get in a fight with a black guy about a traffic accident and murder him, it’s not a hate crime, just a murder. But if I go to a black civil rights rally and pick out a protester and murder him specifically because he’s black, it’s a hate crime.

They’re both murder but in one case, the victim is chosen specifically for their identity.

Edit: ooh boy, did this comment bring out all the male grievance crybabies. No one cares boys, back to the basement.

07Ghost_Protocol99 on November 25th, 2025 at 20:25 UTC »

Seems like they should just punish all murders with life in prison, cut down on paperwork.

Lopsided-Weather6469 on November 25th, 2025 at 20:15 UTC »

As opposed to which punishment for regular murder?