The Permanent Representative of Italy to the United Nations and other International Organizations in Geneva, Ambassador Gian Lorenzo Cornado, took the floor today in the Annual interactive debate on the rights of persons with disabilities, focused on the theme “Statistics and data collection under article 31 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities”, in the framework of the 49th session of the Human Rights Council.
“Over the past decade, Italy has redoubled its efforts to promote and ensure the social inclusion, the empowerment and the meaningful and effective participation of all persons with disabilities in all sectors of public life”, stated Ambassador Cornado, who also underlined that data collection has proved to be essential to formulate policies and measures to implement the rights of persons with disabilities, according to the principles of equality and non-discrimination, thus contributing to reach the UN SDGs.
The Permanent Representative of Italy recalled the importance of an integrated and human rights-based approach, and the necessity to collect data about the attitudinal, physical, informational or institutional barriers that persons with physical and intellectual disabilities face, including with regard to access to transport, health care, education, sport and other services, as well as access to technologies.
In Italy, the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) has recently developed a comprehensive National Registry on Disability, which gathers all existing data, to capture the current state-of-play, the progress achieved and the gaps to be filled. In addition, the Office for Disability Policies, in collaboration with ISTAT, is defining a set of indicators to monitor employment, participation in social life and mobility by public transport of people with disabilities.
Ambassador Cornado concluded his statement reiterating Italy’s commitment to protect and promote the rights of persons with disabilities, to raise awareness and improve the understanding of their needs.
Read the full statement here.
