The activity of the Italian Committee for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights

The Committee for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights is a network of 72 Italian non-governmental organizations, operating in the field of the promotion and protection of human rights, established in January 2002 by the Fondazione Basso with the support of a group of experts on human rights.

The main purpose of the Committee is to support a legislative process for the establishment of a “National indipendent human rights institution” in Italy, in line with United Nation General Assembly standards (Res. 48/134 of 1993) and the Paris Principles. Moreover, the Committee works for the promotion of a culture of human rigths, focusing on both the Italian and European situations.

At the same time, besides these activities, in 2005 the Committee started planning and carrying out a systematic monitoring process about the respect of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights in Italy, based on the legal framework the two International Covenants, in a integrated perspective. As a consequence, a specific “Monitoring Group”, composed by 60 NGOs and associations coordinated by VIS with the support of the Fondazione Basso,  has been established.

The first results of this monitoring activity are contained in the “Monitoring Report on the Reccomendations of the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (26th november 2004) and the United Nation Human Rights Committee (2nd december 2005) to the Italian Government on the implementation of the International Covenants on economic, social and cultural rights and on civil and political rights and of other international legal instruments” (available on the Committee's website).

Currently, the Committeee monitors the Universal Peer Review of Italy at the United Nations Human Rights Council