International Women is the English section of DonnexDiritti Network and includes selected contents for an international audience. IW shares with DonnexDiritti the mission to explore the darkest places of the world in order to bring out difficult truths giving a voice to those who are not heard. Our primary interest is to be transparent with all the readers that follow us and our policy is to stay out of any compromise. In this way, we can ensure free and fair information.

The Network investigate discriminations, violence, abuses, trafficking, femicide and all kinds of violated rights, focusing on human rights. Our editorial staff is made up only by women, who are all professional figures as judges, journalists, lawyers, university professors, psychologists, economists, researchers, managers, contribute to create a different point of view to read facts, politics and the reality that surrounds us, through new ideas and considerations on the world.

Our social media platform is a very important part of our projects, you can find more content on our DonnexDiritti Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Youtube pages. DonnexDiritti and International Women are protected by copyrights, if you want to reproduce the contents, you must indicate the source.

Investigative journalist and human rights expert, Luisa Betti Dakli is the chief editor of the online newspaper DonnexDiritti Network and English version International Women, which focus on women’s rights and minors in Italy and the world. She is the Delegate of the Order of the Journalists Council for the Commission of Equal Opportunities in Lazio, training journalists. As teacher, she hosts high professional training also for lawyers, social workers and attorneys on male violence against women, child’s abuse, secondary victimization in the media and gender and language politics. She also writes for the Corriere della Sera 27esimaora, and among the others she collaborated with Micromega, il Manifesti and the geopolitical magazine EastWest. She collaborates also the magazines Azione (Switzerland) and Passaparola (Luxembourg – Belgium – France).

She is part of Article 21 (National Network of Journalists for Press Freedom) and has carried out various surveys and reports in Italy, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America regarding the violations of human rights on women and children, including the condition disabled minors in Russia, Asian maids enslaved in the Gulf countries, white Eastern European orphans abandoned by their parents who came to work in the West, the trafficking of young Iraqi refugees sold as sex slaves during the war in Iraq. She also investigated war rape in Africa and Asia, forced marriages of girls and girls in Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, China, India and other Southeast Asian countries, the plight of children in the Syrian conflict, on the numerous suicide attempts of minors in the Moria refugee camp in Greece, and she has also dealt with women locked up in asylums after being repudiated by their husbands in India, the violence suffered by migrant women while fleeing their countries, harassment and rape of girls in the world of swing dance, gendercide in China and femicide in Russia.

In 2021 she made the video investigation “Invisible crimes” (11 episodes) on domestic violence concealed in Italian courts and on institutional violence against women and children who seek protection, for DonnexDiritti Network. In 2010 she also shot the video investigation “The prison under three years of life”: a documentary on children hosted with mothers detained in the nursery of the Rebibbia Female Prison in Rome (40′) for Rainews 24 and investigated the condition of mothers in prison with their little ones in prisons of Kabul, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cambodia, Russia, Argentina, Bolivia and Chiapas. She was a member of the Commission for the protection of minors in communication for the Guarantor of childhood and adolescence, with which she published the volume “The protection of minors in the world of communication” (published by the Guarantor for Infancy and adolescence).

She participated in the inter-juridical study table for lawyers of the Court of Rome on “The narration of violence against women from the media to society”, at the interdisciplinary study table for lawyers and magistrates with judges, criminal lawyers, psychologists, lawyers, journalists on “Femicide: analysis, methodology and intervention in the judicial field. For a concrete strategy of interdisciplinary work “, and with the National Union of Juvenile Chambers on “One minor, many trials”.

She took part in the parliamentary seminar of the Presidency of the Chamber of Deputies and the Ministry of Equal Opportunities on “#nohatespeech. Free words or hateful words? Prevention of online violence “, at the parliamentary meeting “Istanbul Convention and Media” with institutions, directorates of national newspapers, the Rai presidency, organized by the Presidency of the Senate and the Presidency of the Chamber of Deputies, and the cycle of international studies “The promotion of Human Rights: from theory to practice” of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Television and radio commentator as expert on the rights of women and children, she is in the Jury of the Tania Passa award of the Order of Journalists of Lazio, National Federation of the Press, Usigrai, and has published several essays including “The #metoo e the role of the media” in “Harassment at work”(Franco Angeli),“ Killed twice. The responsibility of newspapers” in “Stop violence: the words to say it” (Giulia Giornaliste, Fnsi, Inpgi, Usigrai), “For a narrative of femicide that overcomes media revitimization” in “Istanbul Convention and Media”, (Senate Editions of the Italian Republic), “Femicide in the media”, intervention in the volume “As a Woman” edited by the Presidency of the Chamber of Deputies for the World Day against violence against women.

In 2021 she received recognition from the United Nations as a testimonial and activist representative for Italy on the International Day for Human Rights, and she was awarded the CIDU Prize for the category “Freedom of the press” by the Interministerial Committee for Rights humans. She also received the 2021 “Simply Woman” international award in the “Information Woman” category and in 2018 she received the Pegasus Award on March 8 “for distinguishing herself for human and professional sensitivity”. She participated in the Reports on the condition of women in Italy for the UN Cedaw Committee and contributed to the Report for Beijing + 25.

DonnexDiritti Association is publisher of the online newspaper DonnexDiritti Network, pursues civic, solidarity and social utility purposes, and has as primary purpose the activities of promotion, information, awareness, training, protection and action in the Human Rights field. The focus is on women’s rights and minors, with activities aimed on contrasting and preventing of violated rights, included discrimination on migrants, with projects both in Italy and abroad. DonnexDiritti Association supports women empowerment and it includes only female members, while men can register themselves as supporter members to promote its activities.

Donnexdiritti Network is a free information platform and does not provide subscriptions. It is a project of the Donnexdiritti Association and for this reason it has the freedom to offer information that is transparent and free from any compromise. However, this freedom has a cost and for this reason we ask you to support us with a contribution that you will decide. For more info and to know how to do it, write to [email protected]

photo credit © Alessia Mastropietro