Rome, 28 July 2014 – On 24 July, the Ministry of Labour confirmed the formal transmission of the National Operational Programme (PON) for Social Inclusion to the offices of the European Commission, from which it was decided to remove the objective “Combating all forms of discrimination and promoting equal opportunities” and any reference to sexual orientation and gender identity among the causes of potential discrimination or to the National LGBTI Strategy.
We note the Minister of Labor and Social Policies' failure to respond to our request for an urgent meeting to discuss the possibility of explicitly including anti-discrimination measures in the workplace, particularly regarding sexual orientation and gender identity, in both the draft Partnership Agreements and the draft National Operational Program (PON) for Social Inclusion.
We will take action at the European level to ensure that the Partnership Agreement between Italy and the European Union and Italy's National Operational Programme for Social Inclusion comply with European anti-discrimination standards, and we are calling on the European Commission to monitor Italy's situation from now on.
AGEDO, Arcigay, ArciLesbica, Radical Association for Certain Rights, Equality Italy, Rainbow Families