LONDON

Italy’s parliament approved a law on Tuesday making femicide a crime to be punished by life imprisonment, local media reported.

Members of Italy's lower house, the Chamber of Deputies, unanimously voted in favor of the law as the world marked the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

It came after Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's government in March approved a draft law that for the first time introduced the legal definition of femicide in the country's criminal law and punishes it with a life sentence.

"I am very pleased with Parliament's approval of the bill introducing the crime of femicide," Meloni was quoted by the Italian news agency ANSA as saying.

Separately, the agency cited data from the country's main statistics agency, the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT), revealing that 106 femicides took place in Italy in 2024, nearly one every three days.