Permanent Representations in Paris inaugurate the red bench

(ANSA) - PARIGI, 08 LUG - Ambassadors Luca Sabbatucci and Liborio Stellino, Permanent Representatives to the International Organisations in Paris and UNESCO respectively, inaugurated a Red Bench in the garden of the Hotel de Galliffet, the headquarters of the two Representations, thus joining the campaign promoted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation aimed at raising public awareness on violence against women and gender inequalities.
    The campaign, launched by the Vice-President of the Council and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Hon. Antonio Tajani, on 8 March, on the occasion of International Women's Day, envisages the installation of a Red Bench in every Italian diplomatic office in the world, as a symbol of the place left empty in society by every woman victim of feminicide.
    The inauguration was attended by Professor Fabrizia Lapecorella, Deputy Secretary General of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the first Italian woman to hold this position and known for her commitment to reducing the gender gap during her tenure as Director General of Finance at the MEF from 2008 to 2022, and the actress Caterina Murino, testimonial of Amref Health Africa since 2006 and godmother of the 80th Venice International Film Festival of the Biennale di Venezia, who is committed to fighting violence against women and girls.
    In a joint statement, the two Ambassadors stressed that "this initiative is a source of pride: for our offices and for the people who work there on a daily basis for Italy, a country that makes the fight against violence against women a state policy. It is a battle that the two Permanent Representations carry on in their respective International Organisations, in a transversal manner on the different dossiers, because there is no social or economic progress, there is no culture, without the full and widespread awareness that feminicide is an abhorrent crime, to be fought day by day, first of all by fighting for a true, full and effective gender equality, in every sphere, political, social, economic, family and emotional: only true emancipation protects".