Statement delivered by Italy at the Plenary Meeting of the 58th Session of the Commission for Social Development —
Thank you Madame Chair and congratulations for a successful 58th Session of the Commission for Social Development.
Italy aligns itself with the statement delivered by Croatia on behalf of the European Union and wishes to add the following remarks in its national capacity.
Madame Chair,
On the 25th anniversary of the Copenhagen Declaration on Social Development, we commend the results achieved by the Commission for Social Development.
A quarter of century ago, for the first time we committed ourselves to the belief that human well-being for all is indispensable for the achievement and maintenance of peace and security within and among our nations. Today, with the 2030 goals ahead of us, we reaffirm that the works of this Commission represent an important opportunity for Member States to develop a common approach towards a comprehensive and sustainable social development.
We are all aware that we are still not close to reaching the goals of “transforming our world” and “leaving no one behind”. The phenomenon of homelessness is one concrete example of the issues we need to tackle. Only by ensuring better living standards and conditions for all can we comply with SDG 11, which requires us to make cities not only safe, resilient and sustainable, but also inclusive.
Homelessness is a violation of the right to adequate housing, as stated in Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, but it is also a condition in which numerous other human rights are not granted.
Considering poverty as a multidimensional issue and housing as a human right to be fully implemented, Italy has engaged in addressing such challenges with specific interventions aimed at combatting poverty and supporting homeless persons. Ensuring public governance of homelessness policy means shifting from an emergency approach to a strategic one.
Therefore, for the first time Italy has defined a comprehensive national Plan based on the principle of active inclusion and on the identification of appropriate models of intervention for vulnerable categories, in particular youth, persons with disabilities and older people, as the need for adequate housing is common to all these social groups.
In order to prevent and to counter their marginalization from society, the Italian Government has adopted specific social policies that promote the development of community services for older persons, taking into account the psychological and physical aspects of ageing and the special needs of older women and older persons with disabilities.
With regards to young people, the main risk to which they are exposed in Italy is exclusion from the labor market. For this reason, last year the Italian Government has promoted a new “minimum income” measure aimed at economically supporting young people who are exposed to extreme poverty in parallel with facilitating their access to the labor market.
Madame Chair, let me conclude by stressing our expectation that this session of the CSocD foster the adoption of comprehensive and cross-cutting national strategies and specific policy interventions to address all categories of homelessness, so that all people can lead a decent life with dignity.
