(ANSA) - ROME, NOV 19 - Premier Giorgia Meloni on Tuesday told reporters on the sidelines of a G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro that illegal migration has an impact on violence against women, together with other causes, and that Italy will continue its work to halt it.
    "Women's empowerment and violence against women are different things.
    "Violence against women is a theme we are far from resolving.
    "All causes must be dealt with.
    "Figures show a significant impact of mass illegal migration and Italy will continue to work to stop it.
    "There are also other causes on which we will work", noted the prime minister.
    Meloni said "there are also cultural reasons" behind gender-based violence" which we "must continue to fight".
    "It is a paradox that violence against women increases while women conquer more space.
    "This must induce us to reflect", added the premier, stressing that the government is committed to fighting the phenomenon. On Monday, Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara said a rise in sexual violence in Italy was linked to illegal immigration.
    Speaking in a video message during the presentation of the Giulia Cecchettin Foundation dedicated to the memory of the 22-year-old student slain last year by her Italian ex-boyfriend, Valditara said that "we must not pretend not to see that the increase in sexual violence is also linked to forms of marginalization and deviance that in some way derive from illegal immigration".
    The centre-left opposition Demcratic Party (PD) criticised Meloni's apparent defence of Valditara.
    "I humbly remind President Meloni that 80% of femicides are committed by Italians," said the national justice pointwoman of the party, Debora Serracchiani.
    "Stop making propaganda on the backs of women," she said, slamming "the embarrassing ex officio defence by the Prime Minister of the unacceptable words of Minister Valditara".
    (ANSA).