Intervento nazionale pronunciato dall’Ambasciatrice Mariangela Zappia, Rappresentante Permanente dell’Italia presso le Nazioni Unite, alla 57ma Sessione della Commissione per lo Sviluppo Sociale —
Thank you very much, Madame Chairman,
Italy aligns itself with the statement delivered by Romaniaa on behalf of the European Union and wishes to add the following remarks in its national capacity.
Madame Chair,
First of all, I would like to reaffirm Italy’s firm belief and support to the very important role played by the Commission for Social Development in the UN system, not only as the main forum for an organic discussion of social development and of its outstanding issues – including youth, persons with disabilities, old people – but also and foremost as the forum that endeavors to establish the missing operational link between the safeguard of human rights and the promotion of social development policies This link combines the vision of development of the society taken as a whole with the focus on the needs and the inalienable rights of every single individual. The Commission for Social fully embodies the concepts of “person-centered” approach and of inter-generational responsibility. Those represents the only path towards an inclusive and sustainable development fully integrated with the other components of the UN agenda.
We commend the timely choice for this year’s priority theme of the Commission. To address the challenges of inequalities and social inclusion Italy has in recent months passed and envisaged an ad-hoc legislation on the fiscal, pension and social protection side.
Madame Chair,
among the categories of competence of the Commission, I would like to focus on two in particular: youth and persons with disabilities.On youth, Italy recognizes the multi-faceted added value of an increased participation of young people in all aspects of society, as we deem youth agents of change, flywheel of development and natural peace-builder. Young people were rightly identified in the Secretary-General’s agenda of ‘Sustaining Peace’ as one of the key-components of the civil society to be increasingly involved in the processes of peace-building and of building bridges among communities. In this context, we believe education plays an essential role: a quality formal and non-formal education considerably facilitates youth development, at once reducing the number of NEETs (those not in education, employment or training). From the Erasmus Program to the EU Youth Guarantee programme, we support an integrated system of tools to encourage international mobility, promote youth entrepreneurship and smooth the access to labor market.
I also want to recall that Italy has established two years ago the programme of the national ‘Youth Delegates’, a representative of which we pride ourselves to be present here today. And with your permission, he will deliver part of the statement. We also want to lend our strong support to the resolution on ‘Policies and programmes involving Youth’ being negotiated now and co-presented by Portugal and Senegal.
I leave the floor now to Pietro Fochi, our Youth Delegate.
Madame Chair,
With regard to persons with disabilities, Italy has been historically at the forefront of the efforts aimed at guaranteeing the social integration and work inclusion and the full enjoyment of the human rights of persons with disabilities, placing a high premium on the mental and intellectual disabilities. Our commitment in this field has been increasing with the adoption of a new law this year which delegated the coordination of the full policies in disability to a single Ministry with a view of placing the issue at the top of political agenda A specific issue I want to highlight is the presence in my Country of very active civil society network that contributes to the commitment of Italy to fully involve persons with disabilities, in particular through cultural activities and sports, rendering those people in fact drivers and actors of their life by nurturing their own passions: in this regard, I am particularly pleased to mention Teatro Patologico by Dario D’Ambrosi on theatre and disability, and Progetto Filippide on sport and disability.
Let us conclude, Mr. Chair, by expressing my conviction that this session of the CSocD will greatly contribute to the debate on social development – and on its connections with human rights and peace and security – and act in even greater coordination with the activities carried out at both the ECOSOC and the HLPF’s levels. This is the direction we want the Commission to take .In this regard we welcome the results of last Methods of Work’s resolution, trusting that further progress will be reached in this year’s text. A greater integration between these fora will serve the best interests of the international community and eventually decisively contribute to a more organic, effective and sustainable social development.
We thank you.
