katieinnewyork

via BBC

In response to three recent high profile rapes in Italy (at least two of which have involved minors), the Italian government has rushed the passing of a law that includes stronger penalities for rapists, free legal assistance to survivors, and even the creation of volunteer organizations to act as neighborhood watch groups for sexual assault.

Huzzah, right?

Well, no.  Unfortunately, all of the cases have involved immigrants or presumed foreigners as the attackers, and in one case as the person attacked.  As such, the new legislation, combined with Italian immigration law, seems to come down especially hard on immigrants.

Following the news the rapes have been committed by foreigners, there have been reports of violent attacks on immigrants, particularly Romanians and Roma.  The article goes on to indicate that laws like this may increasevigilantism and anti-immigrant sentiment.

While I feel that stricter rape laws – particularly ones that provide not only punishment to offenders, but support to survivors – are very important, I don’t feel that they can or should come about at the expense of a group of people who by and large are not rapists .  Immigrants in every country face varying levels of prejudice without being scapegoated for something that is a society-wide problem.

I’d love to hear what people think, particularly those versed in the overlap of feminist and immigrant activism.