Summary and further reading

According to the UNHCR, a high number of people have experienced extremely traumatic events during their journey towards Europe, including SGBV (Sexual and Gender Based Violence). The frequency of these cases reported by those who have arrived in Italy, by land and by sea, is extremely alarming. Most of the women and children who arrive by sea have survived sexual and gender based violence, including sexual violence and rape, also during the journey.

UNHCR has defined a 3-year strategy (2017-2019) promoting fair and effective access to mechanisms designed to prevent and tackle sexual and gender based violence and to extend the prospects of safe integration for asylum seekers, refugees and other persons who come under the UNHCR mandate in conditions of risk in Italy.

The overall purpose of the strategy is to reduce the risks and mitigate the consequences of sexual and gender based violence suffered by women, men, boys and girls, through a coordinated response mechanism based on a multi-sectorial approach focused on the person who has survived the violence, and on providing fair, non-discriminatory access to the services available to citizens.

Further reading

  • Samira Project – Per un’accoglienza competente e tempestiva di donne e ragazze straniere vittime di violenza e di tratta (For the immediate, competent reception of foreign women and girls who are victims of violence and trafficking)
  • Barbara Pinelli, Attraversando il Mediterraneo. Il sistema campo in Italia: violenza e soggettività nelle esperienze delle donne (Crossing the Mediterranean: the field situation in Italy: violence and subjectivity in women’s experiences)
  • Report of the women’s associations, October 2018 – L’attuazione della Convenzione di Instanbul in Italia. (The implementation of the Istanbul Convention in Italy).
  • Italian Ministry of the Interior, UNHCR – L’identificazione delle vittime di tratta tra i richiedenti protezione internazionale e procedure di referral (Identifying victims of trafficking among those seeking international protection and referral procedures)
  • Aragona, Geraci and Mazzetti, Quando le ferite sono invisibili. Vittime di tortura e violenza. Strategie di cura (When the wounds are invisible. Victims of torture and violence, Care strategies)

Project Partners

Casework is a cooperation between the Innovation in Learning Institute (ILI), the ECC Association for Interdisciplinary Consulting and Education, the INTRGEA Institute for Development of Human Potentials, and Oxfam Italy. More info…