Gender-based violence (GBV), or violence against women (GAW), is the largest problem of public health and of violated human rights all over the world (World Health Organization WHO 2013a). Violence against women is defined as: ‘Any act of gender-based that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life…the unequal condition of women contributes to generate their vulnerability’ (United Nation Office of High Commissioner 2014, p. 73). The European Council (2011) defines domestic violence as ‘any act of physical, sexual, psychological or economical violence occurring in the family or domestic unit, or between regular or occasional partners or cohabitants, regardless of the fact that the authors of these acts shared or still share the residence with his victim’. According the Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) domestic violence is the most common cause of violent death among women aged between 16–۴۴ years (Council of Europe 2006, ISTAT 2007, ISTAT 2015). In Italy, it is estimated that 31
۵% of women aged between 16–۷۰ years have been victims of some forms of violence during their life (Italian National Institute of Statistics ISTAT 2015). Moreover, the data of Italian National Institute of Statistics ISTAT (2015 p.1) underline that ‘۲۰
۲% of women has been victim of physical violence; 21% of sexual violence of which 5
۴% suffered the most serious forms of sexual violence such as rape and attempted rape’. However, over the past five years, the occurrence of sexual or physical violence among partners has decreased from 13
۳–۱۱
۳%, compared with the previous five years (Italian National Institute of Statistics ISTAT 2015). Sexual violence is associated with several consequences on women’s health including unwanted pregnancies, gynaecological conditions, such as vaginal bleedings, chronic pelvic pain, infections of the urinary tract, sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS, hepatitis B or C, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and suicidal thoughts and feelings (Latthe et al. 2006, Wenzel et al. 2006, Taft & Watson 2008).