Committee on the Rights of the Child

Eightieth session

14 January–1 February 2019

Item 4 of the provisional agenda

C onsideration of reports of States parties

List of issues in relation to the combined fifth and sixth periodic reports of Italy

Addendum

Replies of Italy to the list of issues * , **

[Date received: 11 October 2018]

Part I

Question 1

1.As for information concerning financial resources provided for the implementation of the 2016 Fourth National Plan of Actions and Intervention for the Protection of the Rights and Development of Children and Adolescents different sources have been put in place through general and targeted tools.

2.As a matter of fact, Act No. 205/2017, the so-called Budget Law, commits 5 million € for each year 2018, 2019 and 2020 (for a total amount of 15 million €) for the Care Leavers Fund.

3.The National Plan to fight poverty (2018 – 2020), together with the allotment decree on the resources, amounts to 297 million € for 2018, 347 millions € for 2019 and 470 million € for 2020. For 2018, 272 million € (out of the total amount) are devoted to essential levels connected to ReI (Minimum Income), 20 million € for the homeless and 5 million € for the care leavers.

4.Financial resources allotted by Ministry of Labour and Social Policies, available for the implementation of the sixth year of experimentation of P.I.P.P.I. (Program of Intervention for Prevention of Institutionalization) are of 2.800.000 €; for the seventh year of experimentation the budget is of 3.250.000 €.

5.On 19 April 2018 the Unified State-Regions Conference started, with the agreement of the Government, Regions and local authorities, the implementation of SINBA (Information System for Childhood, Adolescence and Family). According to Art. 5§3a a of the Inter-ministerial Decree No. 206/2014), SINBA is the national register aimed to collect all the information flows, at least on out-of-home children, across all Regions. This first period of implementation involves a number of territorial areas that cover at least 15% of the population of the concerned Regions.

6.Finally Legislative Decree No. 147/2017 establishes also the unitary informative system for social services (SIUSS) as a national data collection and monitoring system on issues related to children.

Question 2

7.Since its creation, through Law No. 112/2011, the competences of the Italian Authority for Children and Adolescents have been extended by Law 7 April 2017 No. 47 on unaccompanied minors, and by Law 29 May 2017 No. 71 on children’s protection in preventing and countering cyberbullying. The implementation of its competences has been carried out with the Authority’s small financial, human and instrumental resources (see the Authority’s Opinion to the UN Committee). Such recent laws, despite consolidating (some more personnel has been seconded at the Authority for a fixed limited time) and raising awareness on its role, and despite enlarging its competences, have not strengthened the Authority’s position within the Italian system.

8.The Authority has not fully reached its necessary independence. This is very much clear from at least three perspectives. On the financial level, in fact, even if it has an autonomous budget, the expenses for the Authority’s functioning derive from a fund allocated by the Presidency of the Council of Ministers. Secondly, the Authority does not have its own and exclusive seat, as it is made available by the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, currently in Rome, Via di Villa Ruffo n. 6 (according to Art. 3 of the Decree of the President of the Council of Ministers No. 168/2012 regulating the organization of the Office of the Authority, the seat and economic management). Last but not least, the Office staff is small and made up of officials on secondment from other administrations, far from being structured, and this jeopardizes the stability of the Office. It has to be underlined that the other Italian independent Authorities are granted effective independence through their own and autonomous budget and permanent staff.

9.Also on the level of strengthening the Authority ’ s mandate, serious weaknesses exist. In order to effectively and efficiently shape (or rather grant, as the Authority’s actions have a mere moral suasion nature, as already pointed out) its powers, the Authority shall be given real binding powers, it shall be actively involved in the legislative process through obligatory opinions, and it shall be empowered to adopt binding acts and undertake mandatory actions. In other words, its functions shall be completed with more penetrating powers, in order to ensure the effective cogency of its recommendations and given suggestions (i.e. it shall hold regulatory powers, and shall be entitled to access all the places — reception centers, penal institutions etc. — also without authorization and prior notice).

10.Coordination powers with regard to regional Ombudspersons ’ offices are not provided by law. In some Regions, multiple functions and roles — having different purposes — are conferred upon the same Ombudsperson (“garante dell ’ infanzia” — Children’s Ombudsperson; “garante dei diritti dei detenuti” — Ombudsperson for Prisoners’ Rights; “difensore civico” — Citizens’ Defender).

11.Art. 3§6 of Law No. 112/2011 instituting the Conference bringing together all Italian territorial Ombudspersons (“Conferenza di garanzia”) — chaired by the Authority (as its President) — states that the Ombudspersons shall be appointed by the corresponding Regions/Autonomous Provinces having the same conditions of independence, autonomy and exclusivity as the Italian Authority for Children and Adolescents. Such conditions are not always fulfilled. Furthermore, it needs to be highlighted that the Conference’s recommendations are adopted according to a rule on unanimity. This needs to change towards a necessary coordination between the Authority, at the institutional and central level, and the Ombudspersons at the local one. Such change shall be pursued, through a legislative intervention, granting the Authority power to establish general and national guidelines, in a logic of synergy, in order to ensure the uniform and effective protection and promotion of children and Adolescents’ rights under the CRC.

12.As for the establishment of an Independent National Human Rights Institution, an important debate is currently taking place in Italy at all levels of the system. Parliamentarians are constantly being made aware of the need for such a body and within the Senate (Constitutional Affairs Commission) the relevant text was debated immediately prior to the last legislature coming to an end. An additional Bill was submitted in July 2018, at the beginning of the current legislature. Next 5-6 November an important event is taking place in Trento on this subject. It is entitled: A National Human Rights Institution for Italy: Challenges And The Way Forward, and is being jointly staged by the Inter-ministerial Committee for Human Rights (CIDU — Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation) and the University of Trento.

Question 3

13.First of all the Italian legislation puts at its core the best interest of the child, so far all the categories mentioned in Question 3 are properly protected.

14.As far as foreign minors are concerned, Legislative Decree No. 142 of 18 August 2015 (“Implementing the 2013/33/EU Directive laying down standards for the reception of international protection seekers, as well as the 2013/32/EU Directive laying down common procedures aimed at granting or withdrawing international protection status”) prescribes “Specific provisions in relation to minors (Art. 18) and with regard to the “Reception of unaccompanied minors (Art. 19). The above mentioned rules were integrated by Law No. 47 of 17 April 2017, laying down the “standards related to the measures for the protection of unaccompanied foreign minors”.

15.Law No. 47/2017 recognises to unaccompanied foreign minors the same rights as national or EU children in terms of child protection (Art. 1§1).

16.The analysis of strongly heterogeneous groups and the condition of discrimination, social exclusion and extreme poverty in which a part of the population of the Roma, Sinti and Caminanti (RSC) communities, required the adoption of a specific National strategy, which considered the different geographical, economic, social, cultural and legal contexts in which they live. There are several problems (multiple and mutually reinforcing problems), to be solved and the National Strategy of Inclusion of Roma, Sinti and Caminanti (2012-2020) proposed an approach of mainstreaming to all national Policies, with special attention to education, employment, health, requalification and desegregation of accommodation according to an integrated and sustainable approach in middle and long term.

17.Within the above mentioned strategy 4 axis of intervention (education, employment, health and accommodation) have been provided, divided into 12 specific objectives. It has to be underlined that the main objective of the Education axis is ‘increasing the quantity and quality of the didactic opportunities and the number of RSC students enrolled in schools of any order and class, improving the attendance, the success and the full education following the next objectives:

1.1:“Improving pre-school and school admission for Roma and Sinti children, promoting the non-discriminatory access to all schools (registration, attendance and achievements) also fighting the school abandonment of RSC minors especially during primary and middle Schools”;

1.2:“increasing the attending of young RSC people at University, in qualified education projects and education/employment, also through the access to students’ loans and scholarships instruments or other opportunities and services provided by Law”;

1.3:“improve the assessment and cooperation among Schools, after School activities, families and RSC Communities”.

18.Within the articulation of the aforementioned goals, specific actions are planned and implemented, held by the Central and Local Institutions involved.

19.With reference to the evacuation situations of the RSC settlements, the National Office against Racial Discrimination (UNAR) as the National contact point and anti-discrimination entity, together with the other competent Institutions, is engaged in monitoring particular situations at risk of discrimination, with specific reference to minors. It is shown that the criticality stages has to be managed with particular attention in the phases following the evacuation of the settlements, because the proposal of alternative accommodation, considered fundamental by all the International Conventions and Charters and recognized as such by the local Administrations involved, results of insufficient implementation. An area on which the National Strategy has asked the bureaus in charge for specific intervention is that of educational support for those who have prematurely abandoned compulsory schooling. In this regard, in order to prevent the risks of early school leaving, opportunities for school recovery have been offered over the years to ensure the conclusion of the path of compulsory education and individualized vocational training paths that reduce the risks of banishment and deviance, also with job grants and work placements that can offer concrete job opportunities. In this direction, in full respect of the spirit of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, it has been decided to support projects, also on an experimental basis, aimed at the active participation and training success of RSC minors, through the scholarship tool and the enhancement of the extra-curricular activities to support learning and socialization.

20.Concerning the right of every child to be educated and not to be “left behind” a relevant experimentation is RSC (RGT in English) project for inclusion and integration of Roma, Sinti and Caminanti (Roma, Gipsies and Travelers in English) children. The project is promoted by the Italian Ministry for Labour and Social Policies, with the Ministry of Education and the Istituto degli Innocenti, and the first implementation dates back to December 2012. The European and national legal framework of the project lies in the “National Strategy for Inclusion of RSC 2012-2020”, adopted by Italian Government to put into effect the Communication No. 173/2011 from the European Commission.

21.The project’s purposes are to develop processes of inclusion for RSC children, to reduce their discrimination and to strengthen local communities by creating integration between school, RSC families and children and social services. Implementing actions have three core elements: the cooperative learning as an educational strategy; the empowerment of families towards school and local services; the strengthening of the capacity of the municipality to act through multidisciplinary and multi-level teamwork, and the exchange of expertise and practices at national level.

22.The inclusion of RSC population is a priority of the PON (National Operational Program) “Inclusion” 2014–2020, that supports the definition of common patterns of intervention for the fight against poverty and that promotes, through coordinated actions and pilot projects, new models of social interventions and integration of people and communities that risk social exclusion. Therefore, the prosecution of the implementation of RSC project inside the PON Inclusion 2014–2020 represents a challenge and a scaling up of its relevance and support.

Question 4

23.To tackle the risk of statelessness of new-born children, Law No. 91/1992 (Art. 1§1b) recognizes Italian citizenship by birth to children who are born in Italy to unknown or stateless parents or who otherwise do not adopt the citizenship of their parents according to the laws of the State to which their parents belong.

Question 5

24.Within the framework of the CREATIVE (Changing Relationships through Education and Awareness Towards endIng Violence against women) Project, the Presidency of the Council of Ministers provided for the elaboration and dissemination of a digital APP (and a related supporting document for teachers) informing youngsters on the phenomenon of and the risks related to bullying and cyberbullying. The APP will provide information in a youth-friendly language through games, comics, quizzes, etc. The tool will be available free of charge for downloading from the main mobile online stores. Knowledge of the APP will be raised among students by the Ministry of Education, University and Research through a specific communication to all lower secondary schools in Italy together with one-page guidelines for teachers to explain the importance of the APP’s contents. Following the dissemination of the APP, a public competition for lower secondary schools on this topic will be organized by the Presidency of the Council of Ministers. Furthermore, in 2016, the same Presidency signed a MoU with the National Authority for Childhood and Adolescence providing for, inter alia, the collaboration aimed at disseminating knowledge on the rights of children and adolescents in order to prevent bullying and cyberbullying.

25.Among relevant initiatives, it is worth of mentioning that the phenomenon of juvenile uneasiness has been faced by the Central Anti-Crime Directorate of the Italian State Police through an innovative awareness raising campaign called “Project Blue Box”, aimed at providing young people and their families with support whenever there are difficult family situations, cases of misuse of the social networks and of the Internet or cases of bullying and self-inflicting injuries (the so-called “blue whale”). The Police Headquarters organized several events and used mobile stations such as campervans at meeting places and youth centers or at school, in order to build confidence with minors, to inform and advise them about the dangers arising from the Internet. The Police mobile stations are equipped with blue boxes to gather reports, even in an anonymous form. The latest State Police prevention initiative is the YOUPOL APP allowing every citizen to send reports concerning bullying and drug smuggling. At present this App is active in all the regional capitals and will be operational in all the Italian provinces as of August 2018.

26.On December 28, 2017 the Chief of the Italian Police and the Head of the Department of Equal Opportunities signed the Agreement provided for by the “Memorandum of Understanding for preventing and countering gender-based violence” of November 25, 2016 signed by the Minister of the Interior and the Minister for Equal Opportunities. In the framework of such an Agreement, by 2019, in the premises of the Police Headquarters (Questure), dedicated rooms for protected hearings of children and reception of vulnerable victims (including minors) will be organized. According to the Agreement further interventions related to gender violence will be carried out to disseminate a risk assessment system and training programmes.

27.The State Police constant and continuous commitment with regard to police training can be shown as follows. In January 2017 some refresher and special training courses related to investigative, judicial police and forensic techniques were planned and carried out (and they are still in progress) with particular sessions concerning trafficking in human beings and gender-based violence for State Police officers and operators (Mobile Squads, Digos, forensic labs, judicial police, traffic and railway police units, Central Services of Public Security). On January 22, 2018 the “Training Course including Live Simulation to fight against Trafficking in Human Beings within mixed migratory flows” was held at COeSPU in Vicenza in co-operation with OSCE and attended by State Police investigators. The cooperation with OSCE derived from the Strategy for the fight against THB (within the framework of the National Anti-Trafficking Plan) prescribing a holistic approach to THB phenomenon: the Chief of the Italian Central Anti-Crime Service is one of its stakeholders. At an international level the particular training live simulation formula is unique with regard to its proactive and multiagency approach to the THB phenomenon and the trainees must carry out all the activities (simulations) in full accordance with international human rights standards , including the non-discrimination principle , the special gender and age perspective with regard to the victims , the best interest of minors, the presumed and identified victims ‘ safety, as well as their informed consent in line with data protection.

28.The European help line “116000” for missing children is still operational: it was assigned to the Ministry of the Interior and managed by “SOS- Il Telefono Azzurro ONLUS”. This European hotline makes it possible to call a telephone multilingual switchboard in relation to cases of missing children, minors in difficult situations or needing for help, and to get in touch with local police offices, if necessary. In 2018, the Italian missing children website it.globalmissingkids.org, created in 2000 and managed by the Central Anti-Crime Directorate of the Italian State Police, was given a major boost: governmental bodies and the associations of the 28 member States of the Global Missing Children Network can find technologies and tools useful for the search for missing children. On the occasion of the International Missing Children ‘s Day, on May 25, 2018, the Central Anti-Crime Directorate published on the institutional State Police website a booklet including information and advice for children and adults that had been translated into English and shared with the Global Missing Children Network.

29.As far as the prevention and the countering action of cyber-bullying involving children, Law No. 71 of 29 May 2017 has provided for a comprehensive definition of the phenomenon (Art. 1) concerning children as victims as well as offenders, providing for accurate and targeted interventions in the school setting at large.

30.Children aged above 14 in their role of victims — their parents or guardians — could send a complaint to the administrative referee or the Internet/social media provider to close, remove or block the online contents. If the outcome is not achieved within the following 24 hours, he/she could further submit a compliant to the National Data Protection Authority waiting for its intervention within the following 48 hours (Art. 2). The Law has also provided for the establishment of a Technical Working Group aimed at proposing plans and related actions in this field (Art. 3), created by Decree of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers No. 2566 of 26 October 2017 and put under the leadership of the Ministry of Education: the first meeting was convened on 6 February 2018. Moreover ad hoc guidelines will be adopted by the same Ministry in collaboration with the Postal and Communication Police to be updated every two years in order to facilitate the implementation of the legislation in schools: these guidelines will inform the monitoring activities carried out by teachers selected as main referees to inform parents of children victims of cyber-bullying and the provision of disciplinary sanctions. Within this framework the National Data Protection Authority signed a MoU with the Postal and Communication Police on 28 December 2017 to reinforce the cooperation against cyber-bulling.

31.To fill a complaint to the attention of the National Data Protection Authority a proper website section is accessible to download materials and documentation, completed by an ad hoc webmail (cyberbullismo@gpdp.it).

32.As far as the reports received and handled by the Authority from July to December 2017, they concerned the creation of fake profiles — at times for the purpose of exchanging sexually-oriented messages — and the dissemination of abusive messages and/or pictures taken in a private context; to protect data subjects, we contacted social media and website managers both in the EU and in third countries. The most part of the complaints resulted into the removal of contents. In all cases the compliant has been informed and the case has been forwarded to the Postal and Communication Police.

Question 6

33.Law No. 269/1998, modified by Law No. 38/2006, established the Observatory for the fight against paedophilia and child pornography at the Department for Equal Opportunities of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers and assigns to the same Presidency the functions to coordinate all the Government’s activities concerning support, including legal advice and protection and defense of minors from sexual exploitation and sexual abuse.

34.In compliance with the above mentioned Law, the structure of the Department and the objectives of the Observatory have been defined by Ministerial Decree No. 240/2007, modified by Decree No. 254/2010.

35.On August 30th 2016 a Decree had outlined the composition of the Observatory, including the representatives of the Department for Family Policies, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of the Interior, the Carabinieri Corps, Financial Police, the Police forces and representatives of the most important associations working for the fight against child sexual abuse and exploitation. According to the Law, every year the Observatory provide a Report of all the implemented activities, which is addressed by the Prime Minister to the Parliament.

36.The activities mentioned in the Report, are the following:

1.studies and researches on the issue;

2.study and analysis of the data provided by Public Administrations;

3.information about the activities carried out, also through the website and the dissemination of specific publications;

4.the collection of data about the monitoring activities and the evaluation of achievements, coordinating methods and typologies ensuring their homogeneity;

5.implementation of a Database, aimed at systematically unifying all the information coming from other Administrations, allowing a deeper knowledge of the issues focusing on minors victims of sexual crimes.

37.Following the plenary meetings and once the contributions have been gathered from the other administrations established within the organizations, the Observatory elaborated and approved the Guide lines determining the essential levels of the activities of protection and support in favor of minors victims of sexual abuse and sexual exploitation, launched on November 20th 2017, on the occasion of the twenty-eighth Anniversary of the United Nations Convention on Children’s Rights at the Istituto degli Innocenti.

Question 7

38.During 2017 the Ministry of Labour and Social Policies promoted a survey on out-of-home children, with a special focus on family foster care and residential services care for children. The aim of the survey is to update the knowledge frame (the last survey dated back to 2010) and to monitor the out-of-home children situation across all regions.

39.The main topics of the report, drawn up with the technical assistance of Istituto degli Innocenti, are to point out the main characteristics of out-of-home children and adolescents, with a special focus on the situation of care leavers. Another relevant aspect is the monitoring of all the care system as previewed by Law No. 184/83 and by Law No. 149/01, with updated information on the progress towards deinstitutionalisation. Particular attention is given to the situation of the unaccompanied foreign minors and to the Italian care system developed for their protection and promotion. The survey is part of a report, issued on the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs website (http://www.lavoro.gov.it/documenti-e-norme/studi-e-statistiche/Documents/Quaderni%20della%20Ricerca%20Sociale%2042%20-%20Affidamenti%20familiari%20e%20collocamenti%20in%20comunit%c3%a0%20al%2031.12.2016/Quaderni-della-ricerca-sociale-42-Indagine-campionaria.pdf).

40.The “ Guidelines for Family Foster Care ”, approved by the Unified State-Regions Conference on 25 October 2012, contained recommendations to make the interventions of professionals and services more child-oriented, according to the principle of the best interest of the child. They covered topics such as the different kind of foster care, the organization of the services, the planning and regulation, the relationship with the judicial authority, local best practices and operative tools. Following to their approval, the path of implementation and monitoring started; the University of Padova, as scientific partner and member of the group that wrote the Guidelines, was put in charge of the monitoring phase. The researchers drafted the final monitoring report, that contained data related to ten territorial areas involved in the implementation, and submitted it to the Ministry of Labour and Social Policies on September 2015.

41.At the end of the monitoring phase, that covered the period 2013-2015, some territorial areas expressed the need to develop a further monitoring implementation, which took place from June 2016 to December 2017. The aim of this monitoring phase is to promote the knowledge of the theoretical model of British Assessment Framework and to develop a co-ordinated planning among care and social services across the country.

42.A survey of this further implementation of the monitoring phase was issued by University of Padova on July 2018. The Ministry of Labour and Social policies is presently drafting an ETR (Easy to Read) version of the “Guidelines for Family Foster Care”, in order to let the children participate actively on all the policies addressed to them.

43.Moreover, the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy has established in 2015 a national commission to define guidelines for caring for children that have been removed from home and are in residential care. This body adopted the “ Guidelines for the assistance in residential services for minors ”; these guidelines are conceived as an updated tool of technical and political orientation in the field of residential services for children and adolescents and they develop the multiple dimension of care in residential services in the so-called “family-like” residential childcare. The Guidelines addresses to regional administrators for their specific competencies, to local administrators that have direct authority on children removed from their family, to public officers (social, health and school workers) and to the third sector (residential facilities).

44.The “Guidelines for the assistance in residential services for minors” have been approved by the Unified State-Regions Conference on 14 December 2017. The Ministry of Labour and Social policies is presently drafting an ETR (Easy to Read) version of the Guidelines, in order to let the children participate actively on all the policies addressed to them.

45.The three main aspects of the Guidelines are the following: the meaning and implication of residential care; residential care conceived as a plurality of possible paths inside a shared frame and a necessary answer to the rights of the “growing citizens” that are temporary out of their own families; the description of an integrated system for the residential care for children and adolescents (with different services according to different needs).

46.On 21 December 2017 the Unified State-Regions Conference approved the “ Guidelines for the intervention on children and families in a condition of vulnerability ”. The aim of the Guidelines is to capture and to structure the experience coming from the multi-annual experimental program named P.I.P.P.I. (Program of Intervention for Prevention of Institutionalization).

47.The Guidelines deal with interventions for the care and protection of children in their family environment, with a particular regard on interventions aimed to prevent their institutionalization; the aim is to harmonize practices and models of interventions, giving more chances to children living in vulnerable family environment and trying to avoid parental alienation. Therefore, they are meant to be integrated with the contents of the “Guidelines for Family Foster Care” and of the “Guidelines for the assistance in residential services for minors”, as they work in continuity with the same aims and perspectives. The University of Padova, in accordance with the Ministry of Labour and Social policies, is presently drafting an ETR (Easy to Read) version of the “Guidelines for the intervention on children and families in a condition of vulnerability”, in order to let the children participate actively on all the policies addressed to them.

Question 8

48.The main aim of Legislative Decree No. 147/2017 (“Dispositions on the introduction of a national measure to counteract poverty”) is to remove the economic and social obstacles that restrict individual freedom and to promote the substantial equality among citizens, mainly through the fight against poverty.

49.In order to achieve its goal to counteract poverty, the Decree provides for a comprehensive systematization of measures against poverty, countering economic and social constraints for citizens’ equity and human development and promoting wider and harmonized social policies.

50.The main measure provided by the Decree is the introduction of a national measure to fight poverty and social exclusion; this measure, the so-called Inclusion Income (ReI in Italian), is an essential level considered as a basic key of social care, to be granted evenly at a national level. The priority target of Inclusion Income are families with children, that can apply to their Municipality to receive and economic support (up to a maximum of 485 € per month, for the larger families), together with a personalized planning for social and job inclusion.

51.Starting from 1 January 2018, the ReI takes the place of SIA (Support for Active Inclusion) and ASDI (Unemployment Check).

52.Other aims of the Decree are the reorganization of all social assistance benefits aimed to fight poverty and the strengthening of the coordination of all the social services interventions, in order to grant the same essential level of performance at a national level. The Decree establishes also the unitary informative system for social services (SIUSS) as a national data collection and monitoring system on issues related to children.

53.The National Plan to fight poverty (2018 – 2020), above mentioned, has been published on the Italian Official Journal No. 155 of 6 July 2018, together with the allotment decree on the resources, that amount to 297 million € for 2018, 347 million € for 2019 and 470 million € for 2020. For 2018, 272 million € (out of the total amount) are for the essential levels connected to ReI, 20 million € for the homeless and 5 million € for the care leavers.

54.The main aims of the Plan are the strengthening of the professional social service, as an essential tool to activate ReI, and the support and financing of social interventions to sustain families with children and to help their social inclusion. Relevant are also the access to information, the monitoring and multidimensional evaluation of social services and the personalized project, considered as the essential levels to fight poverty.

55.The National Plan on Business and Human Right (2016–2021), is the result of a long-lasting activity of the Inter-ministerial Committee for Human Rights (CIDU) at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, in order to implement the “Guiding Principles on Business and Human rights”, adopted unanimously by the Human Rights Council of United Nations on 2011. An inter-ministerial working group, co-ordinated by CIDU, drew up the National Plan; the group was composed by Ministries and public institutions, by representatives of the business world, by trade unions representatives and by NGOs.

56.The Plan is a tool meant to help the interaction between economic needs and the human rights protection; particular attention is given to the more vulnerable groups, in order to support them in overcoming discriminations and prejudices. Italy is one of the nine European countries that adopted a National Plan on Business and Human Rights.

Question 9

57.The Italian legislation provides for that all children, both nationals and non-nationals, shall be registered to the National Health Service at their birth and may have access to all the injuries and sickness benefits included in the Essential Healthcare Standards.

58.Regarding vaccinations coverage, following the low rates of both compulsory and recommended vaccinations registered in 2013 throughout the country, in order to meet the target of 95% vaccination coverage set by WHO guidelines, a new National Plan (NIP) was approved in January 2017. Further, on July 31st, 2017, the Italian Parliament approved a new law that increased the number of mandatory vaccinations from 4 to 10 for minors up to 16-years-old. The requirement of a regular immunization to attend preschool facilities and school most likely drew the attention of the parents on the importance of the vaccination. Besides, catch-up campaigns were performed by several Italian regions and amplified by the media at national level.

59.Consequently, the vaccination coverage for 2017 showed a positive impact for all the vaccines, particularly for measles, mumps and rubella vaccinations, at 91.6%, resulting in a 4.4% increase compared with the previous year (87.2% in 2016). The vaccination coverage at 24 months of age against polio, adopted here as a proxy of the hexavalent vaccine used in Italy, was 94.5%, with a 1.2% increase compared with 2016. The sustainability phase expected for the year 2018 will be easier than the fast implementation carried out during 2017. Continued monitoring is needed to evaluate the medium to long-term effects of the law. A complete evaluation on the effectiveness of the law is expected to be done after three years. Parents’ reasons for their adherence or reticence to vaccination practices will be evaluated in detail in further studies in order to maintain or further improve appropriate vaccination rates in Italy.

Question 10

60.The Italian education system is organized at state level. This means that the level of inclusive measures is the same in all regions. The only possible disparity is given by local authorities services connected to education (e.g. transports). In this field, steps are taken at central level to allocate additional funds. The law decree No. 63/2017 guarantees the effectiveness of the right to the education for the entire nation, with respect for the competences of the regions, through the definition of the essential levels of the services, in connection with the personal services (especially for the disadvantage realities) and with the instrumental services (scholarships for disadvantaged students, refund of the school’s fees, facilitation on the school books, didactical subventions for the inclusion). Furthermore, the national service “La Carta dello Studente” (the Student’s Card) has been increased to attest the student’s status and allow access to programs connected to cultural services, national and international mobility, technology for the study and schools supplies.

Question 11

61.The project “La scuola al centro” has been launched in 2016 to support the increase of educational supply in the school and it has been conceived by the Ministry of Education to fight the school drop-out and promote the social inclusion.

62.The experimentation has dedicated a specific attention to suburbs and to didactic programs focused on the application of non-verbal communication and on artistic and sports activities. Among the key-objectives of the project, carried out by public and local authorities, associations, foundation and professionals, there are the following: re-balance and compensate situations of social and economic disadvantages especially in poor areas, in the suburban and risk areas, intervening in a targeted manner on student groups with poverty and particular needs and for this reason the more exposed to school drop-out.

63.As it concerns the project’s activities impacting on RSC students inclusion, they’ve been implemented by promoting the involvement of people, cultural mediators and associations of Roma groups and of Roma groups’ according to their mother tongue, especially using the music and the play.

64.By Ministerial Decree No. 273/2016 10 million € were allocated to realize interventions aimed to prevent the school drop-out in suburban areas of the Municipalities of Palermo, Naples, Milan and Rome to open schools for more time in the 4 areas with the highest rate of school drop-out and the highest rate of social and economic disadvantages of the families.

65.The schools with the highest rate of school drop-out have been invited to apply for receive a public funding, for a maximum of 15.000 €, submitting a project of original teaching and integration aimed to decrease both not-formalized school drop-out during the school year and between two school years as well as conditional advancements to the next grade and difficulties met in previous years in the high schools. The public funding were assigned to schools submitting a coherent project with the call, giving priority to schools with a higher rate of school drop-out, in order to use all available funds according to the following table concerning each Municipality:

Municipality	Amount assigned
Milan (85 schools) Rome (92 schools) Naples (148 schools) Palermo (70 schools)	2.587.504,00 euro 2.044.566,00 euro 4.132.333,00 euro 1.235.597,00 euro

66.The second part of the project, launched in September 2016, has supported with 240 million € the promotion for afternoon and summer opening of schools, with particular attention to the suburban areas and with didactical programs focused on the use of the non-verbal communication and of the artistic and sport activities, using the funding of the European Social Fund (ESF). The national call has concerned an active experimentation of extraordinary summer opening of the schools in 4 cities in the first part of 2016: Milan, Rome, Naples and Palermo.

67.Furthermore, as occurred in previous years, from 2012 a strong collaboration between the Ministries of Education and of Labour and Social Policies has supported the implementation of a project for the integration of Roma and Sinti children and teenagers, in line with the above mentioned National Strategy for the inclusion of RSC. The main objectives have been the following: to improve the inclusion of minors in the school; to simplify the access to public health for their families; to promotion the creation of a network between the cities involved in the project. The activities take place in the Municipalities of Bari, Bologna, Catania, Florence, Genoa, Messina, Milan, Naples, Palermo, Reggio Calabria, Rome, Turin, and Venice.

Question 12

68.Law No. 47 of 6 April 2017 has amended the previous legislative framework in force and provided for the reception of UAMs regardless of whether they have applied for asylum. In addition it has introduced a new provision (Art. 6§3) allowing the manager of the first-line reception shelter where the UAM is hosted to act as a temporary guardian pending the appointment of the guardian by the Juvenile Court. As a temporary guardian, the manager will support the child with his/her application for international protection and for a residence permit. This provision is intended to make access to the asylum procedure faster for UAMs and strengthen their legal status.

69.Second-line reception is provided mainly through the SPRAR (System for the protection of refugees, asylum seekers and unaccompanied minors — regardless of whether UAMs have applied for asylum). In SPRAR centres, UAMs are ensured accommodation until they turn 18 and enrolled in individualized integration projects that take into account their experiences and attitudes. When reaching the age of majority, UAMs who are beneficiaries of a form of protection and those who have not applied for asylum are allowed to remain in the SPRAR for a further period of six months, which may be extended in the case of beneficiaries of protection. Conversely, asylum-seeking UAMs are accommodated until a final decision on their asylum application is made and for the next six months, which may be extended under duly motivated circumstances. As of 30 June 2018, SPRAR centres hosted 2.158 UAMs.

70.Data on SPRAR’s projects and places for each UFM is available in Annex I (Tab no. 12).

Question 13

71.The main instrument through which the coordination activity of the Department is carried out is the National Plan for the Prevention and Fight against Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse 2015–2017, adopted during the plenary session of the National Observatory for Childhood and Adolescence on 28 July 2015.

72.Within the framework of the Plan, four strategic areas have been identified representing the lines of action according to which the involved administrations have to develop coordinated actions and interventions, namely:

1.Prevention;

2.Protection of victims;

3.Fight against crimes;

4.Monitoring of the phenomenon.

73.For each area specific objectives and linked actions have also been identified such as, inter alia, the provision of training activities for children and operators, awareness-raising activities for the general public, actions to combat sexual tourism and online child pornography, the implementation of the specific techniques for the child hearing, as well as a monitoring activity for the drafting of specific Guidelines identifying the basic level of protection and educational support activities for child victims of sexual exploitation and abuse.

74.Among the numerous further activities for the prevention and fight against sexual crimes against children and adolescents, the following are worth mentioning:

1.114 — Children Emergency Number, an emergency helpline which is active 24 hours a day and can be called free of charge from all over the country by anyone wanting to report dangerous situations involving children;

2.The experimental Call for Proposals No. 1/2011 for the allocation of funds to support pilot projects for the treatment of child victims of sexual abuse and exploitation within and outside the family through which the Department financed 27 selected projects for a total amount of 2.800.000 euros.

75.The Department is also particularly active in the implementation of international and European initiatives, through:

1.the activity carried out within the framework of negotiations of the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (the so-called Lanzarote Convention) and the participation in the works of the related Committee of State Parties;

2.the active participation in the Council of Europe’s Programme “Building a Europe for and with Children”, in the “One in five” Campaign for the protection of children against sexual exploitation and abuse, and the initiatives linked to the Council of Europe Strategy for the Rights of the Child (2016–2021).

76.By Decree No. 154/2018, the Minister for Family and Disabilities has been delegated to coordinate all the activities carried out by Public Administrations related to prevention, assistance, legal advice, and protection of minors by sexual abuse and sexual exploitation according to art. 17§1 of Law No. 269 August 3rd 1988, and related to the fight against child pornography according to Law No. 38/2006.

Question 14

77.The enlistment of minors aged below 15 is a war crime according to Art. 8 of the ICC Statute as ratified by Law N. 232/1999: this act provides for the enlistment only for those aged above 18 and forbids in all cases the active participation of minors to armed conflicts. As for Art. 635 of Legislative Decree No. 66/2010 (Military Code), furthermore in exceptional circumstances concerning voluntary enlistment the operational involvement of children is prohibited.

78.The release of training in military schools is in line with regular programmes of the Ministry of Education, including humanitarian law courses. Moreover ad hoc conferences and events are planned over these issues such as the project ‘Human Rights Ambassadors’ organised by the Humanitarian Society in collaboration with the International League for human rights and the Italian Society for International Organization, involving students attending the last year of the secondary school.

79.By Legislative Decree No. 105/2012, amending Law No. 185/1990 to monitor arms export, the control has been extended and will be criminally sanctioned: to cover the fabrication placed in Third Countries; to provide for a ‘veto power’ from Intelligence Services based on a binding opinion of the Department for Security Information to let the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation authorize the export and related agreements; to introduce a new ban for licences and manufacturing delocalization of arms in Countries whose governments are responsible for serious breaches of human rights as ascertained by competent IOs and when insufficient guarantees about the arms allocation are proved; finally to include ordinary arms and munitions to be used by governmental entities, military or police corps.

80.As it concerns the enlistment and involvement of children in armed conflict in relation to the release of the refugee status, the implementation of Legislative Decree No. 251/2007, as amended by Legislative Decree No. 18/2014, deserves the utmost attention to the best interest of the child.

81.Furthermore the Convention on cluster bombs was ratified by our Country on 21 December 2011 and the former adoption of Law No. 95/2011 has provided for a comprehensive implementing framework to sanction every kind of violation and to prohibit the financing of fabrication, use, restoration, promotion, selling, distribution, import, export, storage and transportation of mines and cluster bombs.

82.As far as the military conscription, it was suspended since 1 January 2005 and, in any case of re-entering into force, the requisite is the accomplishment of 18 years. In relation to voluntary enlistment, Art. 635 of the Military Code establishes that the minimum requirement is the age (18 years), completed by the admission to Military Schools (since the age of 15) and the completion/withdrawn of the school training — excluding any kind of involvement in operations — and the application for the public call for the enlistment in the Army from the minors aged at least 17 and with the consent of their parents, following an ad hoc 2 years-operational training (so far well beyond the age of 18).

83.Along these premises all kinds of active involvement of minors aged under 18 into hostilities is prohibited.

Part II

Question 15

(a)

84.An exhaustive list is available in Annex II.

(b)

85.In compliance with Law No. 97/2018 concerning the reorganization of competences of ministries, including on the topics of family and disabilities, the Presidency of the Council of Ministers (or the delegated Minister for Family and Disabilities) exercises the Government’s functions concerning the National Observatory for Childhood and Adolescence, the National Centre for the Documentation and Analysis for Childhood and Adolescence, the Observatory for the Fight against Paedophilia and Child Pornography, and is responsible for the coordination of the National Fund for Childhood and Adolescence, all the policies for persons with disabilities, also with reference to their school inclusion, accessibility and mobility. The Presidency is now also responsible for the coordination preliminary to the adoption of laws on the promotion of services provided by the National Health Service for persons with disabilities. This will allow for the strengthening of policies and actions specifically dedicated to children with disabilities, as both competences are gathered under the mandate of the same Minister.

86.By virtue of the recently approved Law No. 97 of 9 August 2018 establishing the reorganization of competences concerning family and disabilities, the Department of the PCM responsible for the coordination of all the public administrations’ actions against paedophilia and child pornography is now the Department for family policies.

87.Legislative Decree No. 147/2017 establishes (Art. 21) the creation of a Protection and Social Inclusion Network, as a body aimed to strengthen and coordinate the system of social services and interventions and to draw up guidelines, as stated by Law No. 328/2000. The Network is a permanent body based at the Ministry of Labour and Social Policies and chaired by the Minister of Labour and Social Policies. The Network brings together representatives from the Ministry of Economics, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Transportation and the Department for Family Policies together with representatives of Regions, local bodies, social security organisms and non-profit sector. The Network’s aims are to establish a coordination and an integrated planning of social policies. The Network draws up the National Social Plan, the Plan of Intervention and Social Services against Poverty, the Plan for Disabled people and guidelines on specific topics related to the policies of social intervention and protection. Moreover, the Network gives its advice on the National Plan to fight Poverty.

88.The Inter-ministerial Task Force dealing with international child abduction cases was set up in 2009 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. It includes representatives from the Ministry of the Interior — Department of Public Security (Central Directorate of Crime Police — International Police Cooperation Service and Central Anti-Crime Directorate with its Central Anti-Crime Service) as well as the Central Authority for the Implementation of International Conventions of the Juvenile Justice Department (Ministry of Justice). The Inter-ministerial Task Force is an operative interinstitutional working group dealing with particular cases when a child has been abducted and wrongfully taken from Italy to a foreign Country. The Task Force supports the activities of different competent services and authorities to solve each specific case.

89.Further information and an exhaustive list is available in Annex II.

(c)

90.The Care Leavers Fund finds its basis in Law No. 205/2017, the so-called Budget Law, that commits for the Fund 5 million € for each of the year 2018, 2019 and 2020 (for a total amount of 15 million €).

91.The Care Leavers Fund addresses to adolescents that live out-of-home, due to a legal measure, when they become major of age. The Fund support young boys and girls that leave residential services or foster care and that are unable to go back to their families of origin. The aim is to help them to reach a real autonomy, to continue their studies or vocational training or to confront with the job market with an institutional and financial support for at least the first three years.

92.The Ministry of Labour and Social policies shares the Fund among the Regions based on the number of out-of-home minors present in the region; for the moment, it is an experimental project addressed only to a limited number of territorial areas. At present, the Ministry of Labour and Social policies is drawing up the notice and the operational guidelines for the Care Leavers Fund.

93.Further information and an exhaustive list is available in Annex II.

(d)

94.In this reporting period no ratifications have been carried out.

Part III

Data, statistics and other information, if available

Question 16

95.Please find the relevant data in Annex I.

Question 17

(a)

96.Starting from November 2015, the UNAR Contact Center has been set up to include the possible involvement of minors in the reported discrimination events.

97.Among the reports of discrimination registered in the last three years, 449 report the involvement of at least one minor, equal to 6.7% of the total.

Table 1Distribution of child involvement in Grounds

Ethnic Racial	Disability	Sexual Orientation and Gender identity	Age	Religions or personal believes	Rom, Sinti and Caminanti	Multiple	Man/Woman Gender
N°	%	N°	%	N°	%	N°	%	N°	%	N°	%	N°	%	N°	%
247	55,0	59	13,1	36	8,0	1	0,2	7	1,6	93	20,7	2	0,4	4	0,9

98.As shown in Table 1, the “Racial Ethnic” Ground with 247 reports, 55.0% of the total, has the highest presence of reports to which are added the reports relating to the “Rom, Sinti and Caminanti” minority, which is the second larger group with 93 reports, 20.7% of the total. The Ground “Disability” sees a significant number of minors involved, with 59 cases.

99.With regard to the reporting of discrimination specifically against minors, a total of 81 warnings were recorded, representing a residual part compared to the total number of discrimination reports collected by the UNAR Contact Center in the three reference years and are probably a very small part of the phenomenon itself, given the difficulty in bringing out the facts and the complexity of the act required of the victim or witness to denounce discrimination.

100.Table 2 shows the reports divided by gender and age:

Table 2Distribution by age and sex

Age range 0 – 6 years	Age range 7 – 13 years	Age range 14 – 17 years	N° Cases
Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male
0	3	4	5	14	55	81

101.The most vulnerable minors are male between 14 and 17 years old with 55 victims, 67.9% of the total reports with minors.

102.It has to be highlighted that, even if UNAR reports are divided by gender, age, national origin, sector and contexts of the above reported reports, the data are merely indicative and are not statistically significant, as the area of reference is very small.

(b)

103.All data will be collected on the occasion of the next national census.

(d)

104.No data available for this point.

(e)

105.No data is available in this area, as the Italian legislation does not allow for the registration of children at birth as intersex.

(f)

106.Data on this point is available in Annex I (Tab 17).

(g)

107.As it concerns children living in prisons with their mothers as of 31 August 2018 52 mothers (of which 27 are Italian) and 62 children (of which 33 are Italian) are recorded.

108.For further data on children living in prisons with their mother disaggregated by nationality, the number of incarcerated parents and their children, as well as kindergarten and incarcerated mothers living with their children aged less than 3, please see tables in Annex I (Tab 17).

109.

(h)

110.Individuals who receive assistance from Juvenile Offices were 20.466 in 2017 (20.407 in 2012). Among them, 4055 are accused in 2017 for crimes connected to narcotic substances (in 2012: 3293).

111.3838 are male and 663 foreigners (in 2012: 3098 male and 499 foreigner).

112.The crimes for which these individuals have been assigned to Juvenile Offices are: drug dealing activity, traffic and production of drugs (98,4%); induction to the use of narcotic substances (0,1%); association aimed to the illicit traffic (1,3%).

113.In addition there are individuals who have benefit from alternative measures to custody: in 2017 on 562 individuals, 65 are accused of crimes connected to drugs (in 2012: 575 and 80).

114.The detention measures were applied in 2017 for 1057 individuals, of which 163 for crimes related to drug activities: among them 115 had less than 18 years.

115.In 2017 39 minors were located in centres for alcohol addiction problems.

116.Other 17 minors were located in communities specialized in double diagnosis.

(i)

117.From 1 January to 29 December 2017, 16.292 children applied for asylum in Italy, of whom 9.751 were UAMs. 116 of these UAMs absconded. Overall, 1.618 children were granted the refugee status, of whom 299 were UAMs.

118.From 1 January to 17 August 2018, 3.264 children applied for asylum in Italy, of whom 3.171 were UAMs. 116 of these UAMs absconded. Overall, 589 children were granted the refugee status, of whom 280 were UAMs.

119.Further data on unaccompanied foreign minors are available in Annex I (Tab 17).

(j)

120.The National Information System (SIM) of the Ministry of Labour and Social Policies is responsible for monitoring the presence of UAMs on the Italian territory, according to Art. 9 of Law N. 47/2017 and Art. 19§5 of the Legislative Decree No. 142/2015.

121.There were 18.486 unaccompanied minors present in Italy by 31 August, whereas by June 2018 there were 13.151 minors.

122.On August 2017, 93,4% was hosted in reception facilities, while 3.3% was placed in private homes. For the remaining 3.4%, the type of placement cannot be identified from the reports received by Ministry of Labour and Social Policies (Directorate-General for Immigration and Integration Policies). The number of UAMs hosted in second-line reception centres is 11.144 and represents 60,3% of minors hosted in the Italian reception system. 33,1%of them are hosted in first-line reception centres.

123.By 30 June 2018, the number of UAMs hosted in second-line reception centres is 7.190 and represents 54,7% of minors hosted in the Italian reception system. 34 % of them are hosted in first-line reception centres.

Reception system	Unaccompanied Minors
31/08/2017	30/06/2018
	18.486	100%	13.151	100%
Second-line reception	11.144	60,3%	7.190	54,7%
First-line reception	6.110	33,1%	4.476	34,0%
Private	612	3,3%	517	3,9%
Not known	620	3,4%	968	7,4%

124.The Italian reception system for UAMs consists of two interdependent and subsequent levels: first and second line reception.

125.Migrants that are identified as UAMs are hosted in first reception shelters for a limited period of time and in any case for no longer than 30 days. The first-line reception system includes government first reception centres financed by AMIF (Migration and Integration Asylum Fund), temporary accommodation facilities activated by the Prefects on the basis of Art. 19§3bis of Legislative Decree No. 142/2015 (so-called “CAS minors”), first reception facilities accredited/authorized by the competent Municipalities or Regions and provisional emergency facilities.

126.The second-line reception is provided mainly through the above mentioned SPRAR system. UAMs are ensured accommodation until they turn 18 and enrolled in individualized integration projects that take into account their experiences and attitudes. When reaching the age of majority, UAMs who are beneficiaries of a form of protection and those who have not applied for asylum are allowed to remain in the SPRAR for a further period of six months, which may be extended in the case of beneficiaries of protection. Conversely, asylum-seeking UAMs are accommodated until a final decision on their asylum application is made and for the next six months, which may be extended under duly motivated circumstances.

127.SPRAR centres include structures belonging to the SPRAR network, second line-reception facilities funded under AMIF and all the second level structures accredited/authorized at regional or municipal level. By August 2017, there was a total of 2,865 available places for unaccompanied minors belonging to the SPRAR network. By June 2018, there were 3.488 places for unaccompanied minors in the SPAR system, while there were 389 places in the second-line reception centres funded under AMIF.

128.Further data on this point is available in Annex I (Tab 17).

(k)

129.As of 11 September 2018, 3 orders have been issued and executed towards Morocco.

(l)

130.At 15 August 2018 crimes committed by individuals that have been located to Juvenile Social Service Offices were 50.511, of which 45.726 committed by males and 16.138 by foreigners.

131.The crimes committed by individuals in street situations at 15 August 2018 were:

1.Voluntary personal injuries5.334

2.Fight463

3.Sexual assault991

4.Sexual acts with minors112

5.Stalking494

6.Theft11.839

7.Robbery4898

8.Extortion1036

9.Damage2245

10.Fencing2515

11.Narcotic substances5.458

12.Violence, resisting arrest2442

13.Weapons2.491

(m)

132.According to data provided by the Department for Equal Opportunities, in 2016–2017 the total number of child victims assisted in protection programmes funded by the Italian Government from 1 September 2016 to 30 November 2017 was 199. 193 of them are girls.

133.For further information and detailed data, please see Annex I (Tab 17).

Question 18

(b)

134.Please find all the relevant data in Annex I (Tab 18).

(c)

135.No data on children living in adoptive families is available.

(d)

136.Data on children for whom a leave to enter Italy has been granted, disaggregated by region of residence of the adoptive parents, age group, gender, and year of entry is available in Annex I (Tab 18).

(e)

137.No data is available for this area.

Question 19

(d)

138.Relevant data available in Annex I (Tab 19).

(e)

139.As for the inclusion of students with disabilities in the education system, Law No. 118/71 established that children with disabilities shall fulfill the compulsory education, with the exception of those with the most serious ones. Law No. 517 of 1977 abolished differential classes and established the principle of inclusion for all students with disabilities of the elementary and middle school from 6 to 14 years and introduced the figure of the “teaching assistant”. With Law No. 104/92, the generalization of inclusion was established, stating that “the exercise of the right to education cannot be prevented by learning difficulties or difficulties deriving from disabilities”. According to data of the Ministry of Education, to date there are 242,000 students with disabilities, and 154,000 teaching assistants with a ratio of 1:1,6. Finally, Legislative Decree No. 66/2017 established the implementation of the “teaching continuity” also for teaching assistants.

140.Further data on this aspect is available in Annex I (Tab 19).

(f)

141.No data available for this point.

(g)

142.No data available for this point.

Question 20

(c)

143.Data available in Annex I (Tab 20).

Question 21

144.Minor and young adults located to Juvenile Social Services Offices.

145.2007: 14.744 individuals of which 13.205 males and 2972 foreigners.

146.2017: 20.466 individuals of which 18.092 males and 5253 foreigners.

Question 22

147.In addition, the State party may list areas affecting children that it considers to be of priority with regard to the implementation of the Convention. Over the next five years, the Italian Government will work to progressively to decrease the costs of day nurseries and to increase the number of small nurseries in the workplaces. The Government also intends to relaunch the incentives to adoption throughout the national territory. In order to effectively implement a structured set of actions to protect the human rights of children and, in particular, to effectively protect the right of children to their development, the Italian Government considers the strengthening of the National Fund for Childhood and Adolescence as a priority together with the further reinforcing of school integration of persons with disabilities, also by means of distance education and training, where necessary.