On Sunday 25 November, on the occasion of the International Day Against Violence Against Women, the municipality of Rimini (Italy) organised a march to raise public awareness of, and support for, services for abused women. During the day, activists from “No Peace Without Justice” with strong participation from “Coordinamento Donne” created a platform for the commonalty of Rimini to express its choral voice of attention to and solidarity with the universal ban on Female Genital Mutilation, in preparation for the final sprint towards the ban in the December session of the United Nations General Assembly.
Following the request by Emma Bonino, Vice-President of the Italian Senate and Founder of No Peace Without Justice, and on Manuela Fabbri’s initiative, our friends gave real and concrete help: all day long they collected financial contributions and signatures to sustain our battle. They involved notable personalities that have decided to accept the challenge and take a public stand against FGM and those practicing it in Italy and elsewhere.
Our friends, together with the district councillor on gender equality, Leonina Grossi – to whom we are very thankful – have given contributions and made 18 Rimini Province councillors, the mayor, the vice-mayor and the councillor of Rimini sign the appeal. We address our sincere thanks to Leonina Grossi for that.
Furthermore, we want not only to thank all the friends from Rimini for their concrete help, but also to spur other people to become active as our friends in Rimini already did, in order that the result in December is shared by all Italian citizens, both native and migrants alike.
Thanks from the bottom of our hearth to Rimini. In particular, we would like to thank: Sonia Alvisi, Manuela Fabbri, Maria Grazia Federico, Leonina Grossi, Elisa Marchioni, Giulia Palloni, Emma Petitti, Rossella Salvi, Loredana Urbini and Nives Vaselli.
Press review
- Mutilazioni, oggi mobilitazione delle donne, La Voce, 25 novembre 2012
- Mutilazioni femminili, 630 no, La Voce, 27 novembre 2012
