Culturally motivated crimes against women in a multicultural Europe. The case of criminalization of FGM in the 2011 CoE Istanbul Convention

The so-called ‘culturally motivated crime’ is a phenomenon related to multiculturalism, that can be analysed with a special focus on a conduct committed against women: female genital mutilation. The choice of dealing with such sensitive topic derives from a provision of the recent CoE Istanbul Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (hereinafter CoE Istanbul Convention), in force as of August 2014, which obliges States parties to criminalize female genital mutilation, and from the practice of European States mainly related to asylum and refugee status. An attempt to explain why the protection of core rights, like the prohibition of inhuman treatment and the protection of the physical integrity of a person, prevails in Europe over other considerations related to the (human) right to cultural diversity will be presented. Nevertheless, it will be also argued that, due to the growing presence of immigrant communities, the mere repression is not enough, but it should be accompanied by measures aimed at developing the knowledge of human rights.