Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Concluding observations on the combined sixteenth to eighteenth periodic reports of Italy, adopted by the Committee at its eightieth session (13 February-9 March 2012), Addendum – Information received from the Government of Italy regarding the recommendations in paragraphs 13 and 15 of the concluding observations (CERD/C/ITA/16-18/Add.1, 9 July 2013)

The information provided by the Italian Government concerns the follow-up to the Committee’s recommendations on the establishment of an independent national human rights institution and  the social and residential integration of Rom and Sinti communities, contained in its Concluding Observations on the combined 16th to 18th periodic report of Italy. For the first aspect, on 20 July 2012, Italian Senate adopted the bill No. 2720 concerning the establishment of an independent National Human Rights Institution (NHRI), and thus transmitted it for examination to the Chamber of Deputies that further added several amendments. Amongst the measures endorsed to follow the other Committee’s recommendation, Italy adopted its National Strategy for the Inclusion of Roma, Sinti and Caminanti Communities (2012-2020), on February 28th, 2012, in accordance with the EU Communication No. 173/2011 on the EU Framework for National Roma Integration Strategies up to 2020, and established a political control room, including several Ministers, which will guide the integration/inclusion process over time, by monitoring and assessing its state of play. In the framework of the National Strategy, the National Office Against Racial Discrimination (UNAR) launched a number of actions relating to “housing”, cultural mediation services, school dropping-out, human rights education.