RBF Italy

• RBF Italy decided to devote a special attention to Violence against Women and Children around the

• Accordingly, RBF Italy supported a three-fold International Conference devoted to those issues, identified and brought relevant Speakers and Key Policy, Public and Opinion makers to those events.
• The First Conference was held in Rome on the 29th of October 2012 at the Italian Senate. This Conference on “Revolutions in the Middle East. What future for Women?” was attended by a very large audience and as panelists, we managed to have two Leadings Italian Academics, three Women Journalists and Women Rights activists from the Middle-East and also Ms. Dalia Ziada who is an award winning Egyptian Liberal Human Rights Activist.

This woman was named by the Newsweek magazine for 2 years in a row as one of the World’s most influential and most fearless women and named by CNN as one of Arab World eight agents of change. Even the Time magazine nominated her as Women right’s Champion in 2009.

• RBF Italy made intensive efforts to have a Second Conference in Rome on the 28^th of November 2013 at the Chamber of Deputies. The topic of this Conference was: “The Military exploitation of Children in armed conflicts yesterday and today”.

The Conference was attended by a very large audience and as Speakers, we managed to have:

• Beatrice Lorenzin, Italian Minister of Health
• Eugenia Roccella, member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies and Vice-President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies and Former Undersecretary of State for Health and Labour.
• Oscar Torres, writer/producer from El Salvador who produced the movie “Innocent Voices” which received 70 National and International awards.
• Akwasi Yiadom Adarkwah from Sierra Leone who was very active in disarming and rehabilitating some 28,000 children below 18 years who were enrolled as soldiers by the Rebels
• Antonella Napoli, Journalist and President of the NGO “Italians for Darfur”, author of a book “Darfur the colours of hope”.
• In February 2014, The Italian association RBF Italy organized at the Italian Chamber of Deputies a Hearing about: “Stolen Childhood: The Syrian Emergency and the Children refugees”

This Conference was attended by a very large audience and as Speakers, we managed to have:

• Giulio Terzi Di Santagata, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Italy (between 2011 and 2013).
• Beatrice Lorenzin, Minister of Health, Italy (since April 2013)
• Giacomo Guerrera, President of the Italian Committee for UNICEF
• Domenico Quirico, Journalist for La Stampa, was kidnapped in Syria for 5 month. Wrote of a book on his kidnapping.
• Bension Houri, Director of the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit of the Wolfson Medical center and Director of the Project ‘Save a Child’s Heart’ (SACH). The Mission of this International Humanitarian Porject is to improve the quality of Pediatric care for children of developing countries who suffer from heart disease and to create centers of competence in those countries.
• MP Sandra Gozi, Deputy for the Democratic party nominated at the end of February 2014, Undersecretary of State for European Affairs.
• Senator Luigi Compagna.

• At the beginning of July 2014, RBF Italy organized another Conference in its second cycle on the “Child Brides” in different parts of the World and especially in the Middle East.

The main Speakers were:

• Hend Nasiri, Yemenite blogger and women rights activist, winner of safety and security competition for violence against women
• Professor Ernesto Caffo, Chair Professor of Child and adolescent Psychiatry and the founder and President of SOS Il Telefono Azzuro Onlus and Fondazione Child.
• Isabella Bossi Fedrigotti, a novelist and social commentator.

• RBF Italy also collaborated with the Parliamentary Forum for Democracy and organized Follow-up meetings with Key Italian Civil society representatives.

• RBF Italy was also instrumental in trying to coordinate some Key Speakers from Italy at the “Double Entendre Nuremberg Symposium” in May 2016.