Speech by the Minister for Disability, Alessandra Locatelli, at the plenary session of the 16th Conference of States Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
New York, June 13, 2023
Dear Chair, distinguished delegates,
Italy is carrying out an important reform on disability. We have long started a process of inclusion and full participation in the daily lives of persons with disabilities.
The CRPD became law in my country in 2009, and we are implementing all the principles of the Convention through norms, measures, reforms and directly involving the different institutional levels, associations and the third sector, as required by our national laws.
But what I would like to stress today is Italy’s great commitment to reversing the order of policy priorities: putting persons and caregivers at the center of them; demonstrating that, in order to strengthen our communities, it is essential to invest in the talents and skills of everyone so as to offer and guarantee opportunities and chances in training and work, in sports, in recreational life, as well as in the affective and relational sphere.
The great qualitative leap that we are required to make, all of us, quickly, is to develop the life project for every person with disability, aiming to give continuity, dignity and freedom of choice to each of them.
Our commitment has been relentless to guarantee all children and young persons with disabilities the right to education, the right to be able to go to school, to receive training and to enter the world of work without discrimination, like for everyone else and together with everyone else. We should strive to ensure rights and protection for women with disabilities.
With the candidacy of Rome to host the Universal Exposition in 2030, the target year for the Sustainable Development Goals, we are convinced that we can build moments of real, and human exchange on the topic of inclusion.
We are all persons – just persons. We are all different but with the same rights.
And for this reason, together we can do more and more, promoting everyone’s right to a dignified life, through concrete actions together with associations of persons with disabilities and the Third sector.
Thank you.
