Statement on behalf of the State of Israel

UN Human Rights Council

UPR WORKING GROUP 20th SESSION

Italy

Thank you, Mr. President.

Israel warmly welcomes the distinguished delegation of Italy to its UPR and thanks them for their report. We praise Italy's engagement with the Human Rights Council and appreciate that Italy implemented 74 of the 78 recommendations accepted during its first review.

Israel congratulates Italy's strong position as a vocal advocate for human rights, and in particular on matters of immigration and integration policies, continuing efforts to implement a wide range of initiatives across different sectors of its society. In this regard, we recommend Italy to (1) develop a comprehensive national system of data collection, analysis and dissemination regarding immigration policies and practices to be used as a foundation for rights-based policymaking on migration.

We have noted the recent upsurge of anti-Semitism in Italy, and appreciate that the response of the Italian authorities has been swift and firm. In this regard, Israel would like to ask: what concrete measures is Italy taking to strengthen and support efforts to combat anti-Semitism?

Following on from observations made by the CRC regarding the persistence of hate speech, particularly on social media, we wish to recommend Italy (2) to continue raising awareness and promoting tolerance and diversity in society, and (3) to ratify the Additional Protocol to the Convention on cybercrime, concerning the criminalization of acts of a racist and xenophobic nature, including holocaust denial, committed through computer systems.

Thank you.

Administrator

2014-10-27

Valeriano De Castro

Mofa