23
Nov
2023
Watch
International day for the elimination of violence against women (debate)
Mr President, not one more, , and then there is another one, and another one, and another one. Like now in Italy, where a woman was brutally murdered – the suspect her ex-partner, again. She is the 53rd case, just in Italy, just this year. I don't know how you feel about this, but I’m fucking furious because men believe that their own, their girlfriends, their daughters, their sisters, that they are the ones who can take decisions over their lives, their freedom and their decisions. I believe that is so deeply rooted in patriarchal power systems. Every man who cannot accept that their wife wants a divorce and chooses violence, every father who cannot accept that their daughter wants to choose freely what their job is going to be and chooses violence, every ex-partner who cannot accept that their girlfriend has a new partner and chooses violence, all of these men are part of a bigger patriarchal problem. Our societies have to stand up to this violence. That is why the directive against gender-based violence is so urgently needed, including, of course, as the colleagues have said, a strong and comprehensive definition of rape. And let me tell you this: since I can remember, there have been a number of Member States who continuously told us all the things that we cannot do from the European level when it comes to gender-based violence, with legal arguments that have been proven wrong. The debate around the Istanbul Convention clearly shows that if we in this Parliament give up the first time a Member State raises legal concerns, we will not get anywhere. But if we fight, we can make it. The EU is going to accede to the Istanbul Convention, a success, colleagues, of this Parliament and the EU is also going to adopt a strong legislation against gender-based violence. And again, it will be because of the work done in this Parliament, because we know that we owe this to the many victims of gender-based violence in Europe and all the other women living in Europe. We are going to continue this fight. We are not going to give up.