Parliamentary Act 4204- B (Phase: 2nd Reading at the Chamber of Deputies). S. 414-B- Sen. Consolo: "Dispositions regarding prevention and prohibition of FGM practices", Proceedings of Session n° 722, Chamber of Deputies

Proceedings of the final session for the approval of Law n°7/2006 (known as Consolo Law from the name of the MP (Alleanza Nazionale) who presented one of the draft-proposals) allow to reconstruct the whole procedure which lasted 4 years and resulted in merging of several draft-proposals. Final approval came unanimously across parties. In the various steps back and forth from the Chamber of Deputies and the Senators and the approval by several Parliamentary Commission, it is stated that improvements were made as far as increasing punishment for violating article 583bis, especially by way of introducing penalties for those who practiced FGM for profit making purposes, and by the introduction of the extraterritoriality principle. From the debate it is clarified how women from the centre-left coalition had proposed (and managed to have their proposal approved) to invert paragraphs' structures to give emphasis to raising awareness activities not to hurt African communities feelings of being criminalized. Another amendment was proposed by left wing MPs, related to guaranteeing asylum to women who tried to rebel to such practices, and it was rejected. The debate highlight how a weak point of the law it's the lack of resources for directly supporting victims of FGM.

Policy Framework

Issuer

The National Parliament Chamber of Deputies