Women seeking asylum in Italy face a tougher time of it than men, according to a new study.
According to the document, presented at a conference organized by the interior ministry and the Italian Refugee Council, women applying for refuge in Italy face real difficulties in getting gender-based violence recognized.
''Women represent 50% of the refugee population but despite this they are not always granted genuinely equal opportunities in procedures to get their status recognized,'' said the report's authors.
''This is because the 1951 Refugee Convention doesn't specify 'gender' as one of the grounds of persecution for which refugee status is granted''.
The convention states that asylum may be granted to those with a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.
Many countries, such as the UK, have allowed claims from those facing gender-based violence under the convention's ''social group'' category.
Asylum has been granted for women fleeing genital mutilation, domestic abuse, systematic sexual violence and stoning for alleged adultery, among other things.
Yet the situation is more problematic in Italy, where asylum law is something of a piecemeal affair.
The constitution recognizes a right to asylum but most of the detail is dealt with under different sections of immigration legislation, including a government decree approved earlier this year.
Italian lawmakers have also approved a number of specific measures for foreign women in difficult circumstances, for example those rescued from trafficking and sexual slavery, who are eligible for special residency permits.
But the report maintains that Italian asylum procedures still pay insufficient attention to women's unique problems.
Speakers at the conference echoed claims made by human rights and refugee groups: that a comprehensive law would go a long way to remedying the situation.
''Italy has still not adopted a law on asylum that implements the right contained in the constitution,'' commented Milan Prefect Gian Valerio Lombardi.
''We need to find a format that is able to genuinely help individuals with the right to claim asylum, without allowing this to become another issue in the debate over migratory flows in general''.
The most recent interior ministry figures suggest there are currently 7,000 people in Italy with official refugee status, and over 8,000 with special leave to remain in the country for humanitarian reasons.
Over 10,000 asylum applications were made in 2006, 800 of which were dismissed as manifestly unfounded, while 9,200 of which were considered.
Of these, 880 were granted refugee status, while 4,400 were given temporary residence on humanitarian grounds.
