STIR Connecting online and offline contexts and risks . The Italian perspective

1. STIR Connecting online and offline contexts and risks. The Italianperspective Gianna Cappello (University of Palermo, CESIE, Italy) Noemi de Luca (CESIE, Italy)

2. The policy and legalframework • The political debate on children’s rights in Italy mainly developed in the ‘90s • Since then several National Plans for the Safeguard of Childhood have developed and several national institutions such as a Parliament Commission per Childhood or a National Authority have been created • Wide array of policies and actions in favor of children, but the engagement is not uniform nor standardised • A process of rationalisation of the policies on all levels is needed • The same with the legislative activity

3. The policy and legalframework • Law 285 of 1997 created the National Fund for Childhood and the Youth • The reform of Fifth Section of the Italian Constitution (Constitutional law n. 3/2001) led to regionalisation of social policies • Critics of this decentralisationare overabundant

4. With regards to violence, inclination to enforce acts mostly against gender violence: domestic violence is prioritised • Law 66/1996: sexual violence is now a crime against the individual, instead of one against the moral code • Law 269/1998: regulation of prostitution, pornography, exploitation and sexual tourism to the detriment of minors. Recognition for the first time of the principle of extraterritoriality • Law n. 172/2012: ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (Lanzarote 2007)

5. The policy and legalframework • Law n. 38/2006: recognition of a new crime specimen (Internet violence against the child); establishment of two new entities (the Monitoring Unit against Pedophilia and Pedo-pornography, and the National Centre against Online Pedo-pornography) • 2003: Code of self-regulation on children and the internet • 2007: directive by the Ministry of Education against cyberbullying in schools

6. The level of currentpractice • Also at this level, despite the innumerable actions enacted at local level, some negative aspects emerge. • First of all: the lack of specific, systematic, nation-wide monitoring, data collection and analysis. At the moment data can be drawn from two sets of sources: the first one is based on official general statistics and the second one is based on more qualitative studies about the practices and perception of the professionals operating in the field • As all experts pointed out, the construction of a rigorous and consistent system of data collection is the necessary basis for developing a multidimensional (ecological) understanding of the phenomenon

7. The level of currentpractice • Other problems emerged: • little coordination exists among the various local institutions • staff is often limited and obliged to stop at the investigative/diagnostic/evaluative level • the lack of specific competence calls for major investments in the field of training • with regard to migrant children and adolescents: the risk of a cultural prejudice that may lead to underestimate the events of violence and abuse as forms of cultural and/or religious expression

8. The level of currentpractice • a risk-management perspective (how to restrain the abusing person) prevails over a protection/prevention one (how to protect the victim and prevent future violence) • the role of the schools: a change must occur in the way the relationship between teachers and students is conceived and built • In general, there seems to prevail a rather short-term and low-investment logic

9. Connecting online and offline contexts • Low-risk country but not as a result of a planned risk reduction strategy, simply because Italian children engage in fewer online activities • Fewer online activitieslowriskslow opportunities • They are less digitally-literate and lack basic safety skills • Simply reducing exposure to online risks cannot but result in persistent digital exclusion • Maximiseopportunities and minimiserisks a call for media literacy at all levels of school education as well as for parents and other informal educational actors.