(ANSA) - ROME, NOV 18 - A rise in rapes and sexual violence in Italy is linked to illegal immigration, Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara said Monday, sparking outrage on the Left which accused him of spreading disgraceful fake news.
    "The scope of our Constitution, which does not allow discrimination based on sex, must be clear to every newcomer, to all those who want to live with us," Valditara said in a video message broadcast during the presentation of the Giulia Cecchettin Foundation at the Lower House.
    "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".
    Cecchettin's father, Gino, asked about Valditara's statement, said: "Let's say that there are values that we agree on and others that we will have to talk about".
    The murder a year ago of 22-year-old Cecchettin by her 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.
    Her ex, Filippo Turetta has admitted to stabbing Cecchettin to death at Fossò, near Venice, on November 11, 2023, days before she was due to graduate from Padua University in biomedical engineering.
    The case caused widespread dismay partly because of the brutality of the killing and also because of the young age of the perpetrator and victim.
    Prosecutors say Turetta, who was doing the same course as Cecchettin, stabbed her 75 times.
    At a recent court hearing Turetta admitted having planned the femicide.
    The Giulia Cecchettin Foundation was presented at gthe House a year to the day after her body was found, having been murdered a week previously.
    Valditara's words spurred an outcry on the centre left with Democratic Party Senator Marco Meloni saying "he's gone beyond all sense of decency and I am ashamed on his behalf.
    Meloni said: "Valditara's words are indecent. To exploit a tragedy - or rather the murder of a girl by a man who considered her 'his' - for one's own ideological ends, goes beyond the threshold of all decency.
    "Today Valditara said words unworthy of a minister, especially of Education.
    "I am ashamed as a man and as a representative of the institutions".
    + Europa (More Europe) leader Riccardo Maga said: "According to the Minister of Education Valditara, the increase in sexual violence is also linked to illegal immigration.
    "His statement is contradicted by every statistic: the data released by the Ministry of the Interior speak clearly: over 80% of femicides in Italy are committed by Italian citizens.
    "Valditara should be ashamed: his is just a shameless racist exploitation, made moreover on the occasion of the presentation of the Foundation dedicated to Giulia Cecchettin. We thought that on Saturday with Delmastro we had reached the lowest point.
    And instead today the Minister of Education arrived, peddling fake news".
    (Justice Undersecretary Andrea Delmastro made the latest in a string of controversial statements at the weekend saying he felt "joy at not letting detainees breathe behind the glass of police cars".) And Green-Left Alliance (AVS) Senator Aurora Floridia said abut Valditara: "Once again, Minister Valditara is making irresponsible and unfounded statements.
    "It is extremely serious to attribute the increase in violence against women to illegal immigration and to make propaganda on the backs of migrants.
    "Even more so in his role as Minister of Education and Merit.
    "Gender violence has no passport, but deep roots in patriarchal culture, including Italian, in the lack of education on respect and in the absence of effective policies to prevent and combat these crimes.
    "Instead of exploiting such a serious issue to fuel tensions and divisive rhetoric, the Meloni government should instead commit to strengthening anti-violence centers, to guarantee adequate resources and to introduce affective education programs in schools.
    "Violence against women is fought with prevention, support for victims and a justice system that works, not with controversy and fake news".
    Elisabetta Piccolotti of AVS said: "Instead of establishing an hour of emotional education in our country's schools, Valditara chose to remember Giulia Cecchettin by making embarrassing statements, claiming that patriarchy does not exist.
    "What is worse is that, with his statements on the responsibilities of illegal immigration, while femicides continue (and continue mostly at the hands of Italians), he sent a wrong and dangerous message to all the young people of our country, fanning the flames of racism and discrimination. We have a minister who has thus demonstrated once again - his inadequacy and ignorance".
    Several opposition members said Valditara should resign, and called on Premier Giorgia Meloni to deny what he had said.
    Valditara responded to the criticism by accusing the Left of always wanting to raise a row instead of making calm comments.
    "It is not clear why the left always starts a fight and does not know how to reason in calm terms," he said.
    "(They should) learn from Gino Cecchettin who spoke of a comparison of ideas.
    "As for patriarchy, that is, a society founded on the legally and hierarchically superior power of the father, I reiterate that since the 1975 reform it no longer exists.
    "Machismo exists and we must fight against it by putting the value of each person at the center. As for sexual violence, it is also fought by reducing the phenomena of marginalization and deviance linked to illegal immigration.
    "This is reality, the rest is instrumentalization by those who do not know democratic dialogue.
    "I have the doubt that more than fighting for the dignity of women and against violence against women, some on the left only want to lead other battles". (ANSA).