Benedetto Della Vedova, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation participated in the Steering Committee’s first meeting on policies to prevent and combat discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
The Steering Committee, established by the Minister for Equal Opportunities Elena Bonetti, aims to contribute to the multiannual National Strategy’s definition to combat discrimination against LGBTI people according to the strategic guidelines on the issue adopted last year, for the first time, by the European Commission for the five years 2020-2025.
In addition to Minister Bonetti and Deputy Minister Della Vedova, the meeting was attended by Ministers Dadone, Cartabia and Messa, and representatives of the Ministries of Health and Labour, the Departments for European Policies and Sport, and the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (The Italian National Institute of Health).
Deputy Minister Della Vedova reiterated the need to adopt active policies to address the inequalities affecting LGBTI people in his speech. All the administrations involved sheared these policies.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation- underlined Della Vedova – is actively engaged in the fight against all forms of discrimination. Also, it is involved in the promotion and protection of LGBTI rights in all multilateral forums to which it is a party, first and foremost the United Nations. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation is also committed at the national level, thanks to the work of the Interministerial Committee on Human Rights, CIDU, headquartered at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs”.
The Deputy Minister then recalled the upcoming Italian Presidency of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe from November 2021 to May 2022, a significant opportunity to further enhance Italy’s commitment to the protection of LGBTI rights. “Italy could give an important signal – highlighted Della Vedova – if it arrived at the appointment of the Presidency having ratified Protocol no. 12, concerning the general prohibition of discrimination, to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms”. The Protocol, signed in 2000, has not yet been ratified, so the ratification bill’s advancement, deposited in the Chamber at the beginning of the legislature but never scheduled, would provide a fundamental legal framework for the recognition and protection of LGBTI rights.
