The Italian Minister for Disabilities Alessandra Locatelli spoke today with a video-message at the annual interactive Debate on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, in the framework of the 55th session of the Human Rights Council.
Minister Locatelli’s participation confirms the fruitful relations between Italy and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, who during his visit to Rome in January expressed to the Minister herself his strong appreciation for both the Italian model in the field of disability and the additional commitments made by our country in the framework of the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
In her speech, Minister Locatelli pointed out that “Italy has begun an important reform process on the issue of disability” and that “time has come to speed up the full application of the UN Convention” on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, giving concrete application to “the right of everyone to a participatory life from a civil, social and political point of view in our Countries”.
She also emphasized that “the time has come to make a new qualitative leap in the perspective of inclusion” by “valorizing people, supporting everyone’s abilities and talents, investing in each person and offering opportunities“.
The minister also underlined that we need to “start overcoming the extreme fragmentation between health, socio-health and social policies” and added that Italy intends to follow this approach “in particular by introducing a tool called ‘Life Project’ which will allow the activation of tailor-made measures and services based on desires and everyone’s preferences”.
As evidence of Italy’s strong commitment to the rights of people with disabilities both domestically and internationally, a G7 Ministerial Meeting on “Inclusion and Disability” will be organized for the first time in October during Italy’s 2024 G7 Presidency in Umbria.
Read the full statement.
