Every four years, the Human Rights Committee examines a state-produced report on the situation of human rights in that country. The Committee evaluates how the state is doing in meeting its responsibilities under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
The Human Rights Committee also takes into consideration separate reports of human rights violations as well as reports written by NGOs in the country, which offer an independent view to the government's.
In preparation for this examination, the Italian Coalition for Civil Rights and Freedoms (CILD) has issued its shadow report for the UN Human Rights Committee, which outlines the following human rights issues in Italy.
National Human Rights Institution
Italy still does not have an independent National Human Rights Institution (NHRI). This makes it impossible to have a more comprehensive and coherent national strategy to promote and protect human rights, and CILD urges the Italian government to make every effort to establish a NHRI able to be accredited with Status A by the UN Human Rights Council.
Same-sex families
Italy still lags behind European countries when it comes to equality for homosexual people and parental rights for gay couples. In that sense, it is necessary to revise Italy’s adoption legislation to allow "stepchild adoption," ensuring that the best interests of children are the primary consideration in all adoption proceedings.
Discrimination & hate speech
The current Italian anti-discrimination framework does not provide for effective means to address and discourage hate speech, which is a deep-rooted and widespread phenomenon in Italy, especially targeting Roma, non-citizens and the LGBTI community. There is a strong need today to provide anti-discrimination legislation and guarantees of sanctions.
Roma, Sinti and Caminanti rights
The implementation of the National Roma Integration Strategy (NRIS) remains problematic, with segregation and forced evictions of Roma still a common practice. Immediate and adequate measures are needed to ensure rights of minorities and integration of those communities in Italy.
Torture criminalization
Torture is still not a crime under Italian law, despite the fact that the state's duty to outlaw torture is unequivocally stated in various international treaties to which Italy is party.
It’s necessary that Italy incorporates without further delay the crime of torture into the Italian Criminal Code, in line with Article 1 of the UN Convention Against Torture.
Access to citizenship
Access to citizenship poses a challenge for children born in Italy from third-country nationals or arrived in our country at a young age. A draft reform must be adopted, which would allow for citizenship on the principle of (tempered) jus soli or jus culturae which has been stuck for years.
Collective expulsions & non-refoulement
Italy appears to continue to carry out collective expulsions of migrants to countries of origin or transit in violation of the principle of non-refoulement. Furthermore, there are grave concerns over systematic human rights violations under the "hotspot approach."
taly should take all necessary steps to ensure that bilateral and multilateral agreements on migration guarantee the full respect of human rights as well as strict compliance with the principle of non-refoulement. Italy should also immediately suspend any bilateral agreement lacking adequate human rights protection and sets rigorous monitoring mechanisms, including independent monitoring by international organisations, NGOs, and independent bodies to ensure that the hotspots function is compatible with legal and rule of law standards.
Unaccompanied minors
As the number of unaccompanied minors (UAMs) arriving in Italy have been rising sharply over the last year, Italy needs to implement proper methods for age assessment in order to ensure the best interests of the child are effectively protected.
'Illegal immigration'
Irregular entry into or stay on Italian territory remains a criminal offense. Furthermore, the Italian government wants to make CIEs a core element of its immigration management strategy notwithstanding the fact that over the years a plethora of reports - both by institutional bodies and NGOs - have denounced CIEs as inhumane, useless and incredibly expensive.
Human rights advocates urge the government to abolish the criminal offense of irregular entry into or stay on Italian territory, refrain from expanding the system of administrative detention of third-country nationals in CIEs, and put in place a rigorous monitoring mechanisms and independent bodies and guarantee press and NGOs the right to access CIEs to ensure transparency.
