(ANSA) - ROME, NOV 20 - Education Minister Maurizio Valditara on Wednesday denied linking femicides to immigration in previous statements, saying he had spoken about a concerning rise in sexual violence which can also be attributed to forms of marginalization due to irregular immigration.
    "I never said femicides are the fault of immigrants.
    "I said something different, which our country is experiencing a rising phenomenon of sexual violence, which are another very sad phenomenon", noted the minister.
    "The figures are unfortunately unmistakable and I am sorry that someone altered them or failed to recognize them.
    "And what did I say? I said marginalization and deviance due to irregular immigration also, and the also is important, contribute to sexual violence", noted the minister.
    On Monday, the education minister had said a rise in rapes and sexual violence in Italy was linked to irregular migration.
    "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 minister said in a video message broadcast during the presentation of the Giulia Cecchettin Foundation at the Lower House.
    The minister noted that an "ideological vision would like to solve" the issue of gender-based violence by "fighting against patriarchy while, as a juridical phenomenon, it ended with the 1975 reform of family law".
    Valditara on Wednesday said that he welcomed a call by Giulia Cecchettin's father Gino to dialogue and discuss figures on gender-based abuse as "we share the same objective, or fighting any form of violence against women".
    The murder a year ago of 22-year-old Cecchettin by her Italian ex boyfriend shocked Italy and highlighted its problem with femicide and gender-based violence, leading to the setting up of the foundation in her name.
    Meanwhile on Wednesday Family and Equal Opportunities Minister Eugenia Roccella said she thought "patriarch exists", asked by reporters to comment on Valditara's statements.
    "New forms of patriarchy also exist, although certainly in the western world the old forms are fundamentally dissolving, they are in decline, they resist in other cultures and in other countries", said Roccella. (ANSA).