Italy

An estimated 16.3% of children in Italy live under the poverty line, according to a new United Nations report.

The report was put together by a work group made up of 45 associations and organisations, and coordinated by Save the Children, to mark the 60th anniversary of the UN's Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). "Children who beg at traffic lights and news reports of violence or abuse against children are only the most visible examples of a disturbing structural trend," observed Arianna Saulini, a work group coordinator.

The high number of children who live in poverty, an estimated 17 million in Europe, "is in significant measure related to the socio-economic status of the mother," the report said.

Backing this up was data from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) which showed a direct proportional link between female unemployment and child poverty.

In Italy's case, this means that more children fell into poverty last year because of the 0.2% decline in the number of women holding jobs compared to 2004.

Immigrant children are the most vulnerable to poverty, the report observed, because many do not have residency permits and thus are ineligible for welfare coverage.

In order to escape from poverty, many minors turn to prostitution to support themselves or their families, the report said.

The Government generally respects the human rights of its citizens, and the law and the judiciary generally provide effective means of dealing with instances of individual abuse. There is respect for civil liberties including freedom of speech, religion and peaceful assemblies.

Furthermore, the law prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, sex (except with regard to hazardous work), religion, ethnic background, or political opinion, and provides some protection against discrimination based on disability, language, or social status. However, societal discrimination persists to some degree.

There is Respect for the Integrity of the Person included in section 1 of the constitution. The law prohibits torture and cruel or degrading punishment and The Constitution provides for an independent judiciary and the Government respects this provision in practice. The judiciary provides citizens with a fair judicial process.

Violence against women remains a problem. Media reports of violence against women are common. In its annual report on violence against women, Telefono Rosa stated that 55.5 percent of the cases reported nationally included physical violence, an increase of 9.5 percent over the previous 2 years. An recent investigation conducted by the Rome police and the NGO Telefono Rosa reported 6,522 cases of domestic violence against women in Rome in 1997 and an ISTAT survey reported that at least 9.4 million women between the ages of 14 and 59 had experienced some form of sexual violence during their lives. However, legislation to protect women from physical abuse, including by family members, has been updated and strengthened.

The Government demonstrates a strong commitment to children's rights and welfare. Schooling is free and compulsory for children from age 7 to age 18; those unable (or unwilling) to follow the academic curriculum may shift to vocational training at age 15. This reform was intended to reverse the middle and secondary school dropout rate, which historically has been high. Education Ministry figures on dropout rates suggested that close to 99 percent of children attended school through middle school.

Collecting completely accurate and current HIV/AIDS information in Italy is difficult as Italy only reports HIV/AIDS cases from 7 of its 20 regions/provinces.

Some studies available (although dated) provide some insight. In 2003 UNICEF lists a low estimate for AIDS infections in Italy as 67,000 with a high estimate as 220,000. Researchers have identified unprotected sex as the principal cause of infection, with drug abuse second.

Environmental awareness has grown in Italy in recent years, though air pollution remains a serious problem. Because of Italy's heavy reliance on imports to meet its energy needs, energy security and diversification of energy sources are a top priority in Italy's energy strategy. Italy is well endowed with renewable energy resources, such as solar, biomass and geothermal, which could be captured and utilized for energy. The government's goal of doubling the country's production of energy from renewable resources by 2012 will help enable Italy to meet its growing energy demand in a more sustainable manner.

As an Annex I country under the Kyoto Protocol, Italy has agreed to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by the 2008-2012 commitment period. However, the EU has decided to meet its requirements under the Protocol as a whole, rather than as individual signatories, with each member state given a different emissions target by the EU Commission. Under the EU plan, Italy must reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by 6.5 percent below the 1990 level during 2008-2012; the country was 20 percent above this target in 2003.

With limited domestic energy sources, Italy is highly dependent on imports to meet its consumption needs. In absolute terms, oil consumption has remained relatively static since 1970, but oil's share of Italy’s primary energy mix has decreased significantly, steadily replaced by natural gas. A pressing issue affecting Italy has been the country's electricity supply. In the summer of 2003, increased electricity demand during a heat wave overwhelmed Italy’s electricity generation facilities, resulting in rolling blackouts. In September 2003, Italy suffered a nationwide blackout after a storm damaged a transmission line in Switzerland carrying electricity from France. Over the past decade, Italy’s installed electricity generation has not been able to keep up with demand, resulting in an increased share of electricity imports as a percent of total consumption.

Education: Years compulsory--14. Literacy - 98%

In 1923, the Legge Gentile (Gentile Act) set the rules of Italian education, which has not been changed for a long time. Among the changes introduced with this Act, there is the compulsory teaching of the Catholic religion; the raising of the school leaving age to 14 years, the creation of a specific institute for the education of elementary school teachers and the institution of sanctions, fines and strict controls to force parents to send their children to school. The age of compulsory school leaving was raised to 16 and then to 18 in more recent years, and since 1923 there have been a number of changes, both minor and major, in secondary education, but the basic structure of Italian education has not been changed since then.

It is worth mentioning that until 1997, if a high school student failed to obtain a passing grade in each subject, he had to undertake an exam at the beginning of September (the academic year usually begins around September 15th), and to repeat the academic year if they fail this exam. But from 1997 to the present day, a student may move up to the next year of secondary school, even if he didn't get a passing grade in some subjects (usually up to three subjects if the grades aren't terrible, i.e. a 5 (the passing grade is a 6.0))

According to a recent study by the World Resources Institute ,the adult literacy rate for women was 98% and for men was 99%, while the youth literacy rate (ages 15-24) is nearly 100% for both sexes.

ADUC--this is a nonprofit organization, formed by voluntary citizens, giving free help to everyone in fact of consumers and users rights defense.

ASVI--The ASVI is a non profit organization of social trans-formation,non governmental, political, financing, independent. ASVI’s strategy is aims to reinforce and networking the individual operator and the collective agents of change and social development at the international level through the formation and the implementation of the competences in managerial and strategic planning.

CHILDREN’S CHARITY ONLUS ITALIA--The society was formed in Italy in 1999 with headquarters in Milan and is registered as a nonprofit organization for social welfare (organizzazione non lucrativa di utilità sociale – onlus). It is a private, non-denominational and independent organization. The name is the programme: “CHILDREN’S CHARITY”.

COOPI --Since its foundation in 1965, COOPI's mission has remained unchanged: to help the world's poorest to improve their access to healthcare, education and food and financial security, and to overcome their special vulnerability to the emergency situations generated by war, civil conflict, and natural disaster.

FIRE RESCUE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
The Fire Rescue Development Program (F.R.D.P.) is an international non governmental organization (NGO) comprised of firefighters, fire officers and fire chiefs from 12 countries on 5 continents. The F.R.D.P. was created by the former United Nations Fire Chief Robert Triozzi, and is the only fire rescue NGO to be recognised by the United Nations. The scope of the F.R.D.P. is to assist the fire services in developing and war torn countries in the way of training, organization, administration and supplying needed equipment.

FONDAZIONE BANCA DEGLI OCCHI - is a non-profit, socially useful organization (ONLUS). It is the top eye bank in Europe as far as the distribution of corneal tissues for transplant are concerned. It is also the Reference Center for Corneal Transplants for the Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia regions and, since 2002, has been the Regional Research Center for Research into Epithelial Stem Cells for the Veneto Region. The Foundation is also the only European eye bank to have become an Accredited Member of the Eye Bank Association of America; it also belongs to the European Eye Bank Association. It also carries out continuous training activities for the professional figures involved in the donation-transplant process at its own Training and Study Center named Eidon.

FRIENDS OF THE WORLD TREASURES OF ITALY--Friends of the World Treasures strictly connects an element of cultural heritage to a social group supporting it.

GRUPPO OASI DI TRENTO--The "OASI" Group is a no-profit association born eight years ago by the enterprise of a young people's group who wanted to offer entertainment opportunities for children and teenagers. In April 2002 through financial support, we were able to open a Centre called "Contrasto". We are open every day except for week-ends and we offer a lot of services for people of different ages. For children we program every day activities like creative workshops, films, outdoor games, homework, going out in the village, and music and theatre workshops. In summertime the children can also take part of all day trips and many interesting activities created in order to improve fun but also knowledge. Teenagers and adults can use computers, read a book or a magazine, or simply to have a chat together!

INTERIM INTERVENTION INTERNATIONAL--Interim Intervention International is a humanitarian association which is mainly made up of Africans, with the objective of giving moral, physical and material assistance to disabled, weak and deserted people and also to the children living in Africa.

INTERSOS --an independent non-profit humanitarian organization committed to assisting the survivors of natural disasters and armed conflicts. It was established in 1992 by a group of citizens dedicated to international solidarity, with the active support of Italian Trade Unions. Its goals are to 1.To give immediate response to humanitarian crises, by bringing relief to survivors of armed conflicts and their long-term consequences (poverty, disability, mines and explosive devices, etc.), and of any other natural or man-made calamity. 2. In conjunction with the relief intervention, to begin laying the groundwork for return to stability, reconstruction and development. 3. To activate, stimulate and involve Italian society, in order to develop and spread the culture of international solidarity.

ITACA --Itaca is a non-profit agency, which serves the whole territory in order to take initiatives in the field of local development, based upon the principles of sustainability, an integrated approach, diversification and coordination. It has been accredited by the Italian Ministry of Welfare as sending organization for the European program.

LIBERA ASSOCIAZIONE IL POPOLO - We promote 2010:Poverty Elimination, the global campaign for a possible development. Scientific approach, non-violence, many ways to start immediately and be useful to everyone.

LUNARIA --Lunaria is a non-profit association that since 1992 has been performing activities of research, training, consultancy and information on several subjects: voluntary service, third sector and immigration.

MONASTERO --A non-profit organization, its nature is non-political and non-religious. It is international organization devoted to promoting international co-operation and security, creating and supervising projects and promoting sustainable development, intercultural communication, civil society and peace, with our team of experts and consultants.

OIKOS ITALY--OIKOS is a non-profit volunteering organization founded in 1979 for protecting and studying the environment. It works internationally on environmental problems in the big cities and on defense and reintegration of woods, especially mediterranean ones. Oikos staff consists of experts on various subjects and volunteers, who participate at work camps. A large part of Oikos work is focused on communication, networks, cognitive features,
in order to grasp a systemic vision of the ecological crisis.

ONLUS--Polìade ONLUS is a social promotion association. Our mission is to be a point of contact for organizations, schools and all that are involved with passion in citizenship education. The aims of our projects are to promote adolescents’ social participation and responsible democratic citizenship, to enhance public school as opportunity to develop civic consciousness, spreading a systematic citizenship education, to deal in innovative way with multicultural living together, and to increase disadvantaged individuals’ and groups’ social skills.

PARSEC --Parsec works on drug prevention and education for youth between the ages of 14 and 29 in Rome. We concentrate on "designer drugs" such as ecstasy, anphetamins, LSD and ketamins. We visit rave parties, high schools, discos and bars to talk with young people and we set up information booths to disseminate information about drug abuse. We also offer peer education classes and counseling for parents of young people who use drugs.

SALUTE E SVILUPPO OF ITALY --a non-profit voluntary organization involved in socio-economic development and healthcare projects. The great and increasing divide between the North and the South demands social justice and stronger voices to appeal to governments, politicians, and to all people of good will who wish to see the equitable treatment of all persons.

SOS HUMAN RIGHTS (ITALY) --Human being as a central value. International campaign of human support in Africa, Asia and South America.

WATERBERRY DEVELOPMENT INTERNATIONAL --Waterberry is a non-profit organisation working to strengthen the role and involvement of young professionals in achieving sustainable development.

WWF ITALY --WWF Italy is the largest Italian environmental organisation. Through 20 regional offices and 250 local groups, WWF Italy provides information to everyone who wants to get involved in caring for the Earth, voluntary activities, or simply sharing its mission and its goals: conservation of biological diversity (habitat and species);promotion of the sustainable use of natural resources; fight for nature against pollution, waste of resources, misuse of energy and overexploitation of natural resources.

GLOBAL CARE VOLUNTEERS - Italian volunteer work camp--The Principle of German Workcamps
Workcamps are always voluntary and without payment. They are international and organize themselves. Working together within the group for a common aim is an absolutely vital component of every workcamps. What actually 'happens' in a workcamp is dependent largely on each individual. In international workcamps we see the possibility for young people to exchange experiences, to learn more about other social, cultural and political living conditions. We hope they come to an understanding of people from various countries by living together in an international group. As much as possible spare time should be spent together in the group and can be used to get to know the country in more ways than as a usual tourist. Excursions together, visits to museums and other places of interest are just a few suggestions. There should as well be enough room for each individual to follow his or her particular interest or need.

VOLUNTEER AT CENTRIO D'OMPI--a international seminar house in Northern Italy - is looking for volunteers for the new season 2006. Volunteer program usually lasts 6 weeks and starts from now until November 2006. We ask you for 30 hours work a week (6 hours a day with 2 days off a week) in the departments that need help (dishwashing, kitchen, cleaning, garden, office). In return we offer 3 delicious vegetarian meals a day (mostly Italian cuisine) and a place to stay in a traditional Italian country house in the village near by. Apart from that you can use the infrastructure of the place any time you wish (swimming pool, sauna, massage hut and meditation rooms if available). We also organize a little event every week to give you a chance to either do some meditation or get to know the area.

RESTORATION OF MEDIEVAL HOUSES--We are looking for dedicated people to
assist with restoration of several medieval houses in Baiardo, Italy. Volunteers wanted all year round. No specific skills necessary!! The work involves painting, landscaping, furniture restoration, cleaning, clearing rubble and general maintenance. You may work at your own pace. And stay as long as you wish. Work tools are provided.

TEACH ENGLISH IN ITALY--Service opportunities year=around in Southern Italy! Provide English language instruction to adults and youths in classrooms and small groups. Language "camps" with young students are conducted during summer months. The emphasis of both the classroom teaching and the summer tutoring is on improving real-life conversational skills, not formal rules of grammar. The volunteers cooperate with the local teachers to plan each day's work using student texts and established lesson plans. Volunteers review and build on exercises the students have completed and will be studying in the near term. Volunteers also serve as resources on topics of American culture, including discussions on American history, lifestyles, sports and school systems.

OIKOS--Oikos is looking for a volunteer who wants to support our staff in general tasks in and around the house (like gardening, cooking, general maintenances,....). The volunteer has to work with us for at least 3 month and should be able to speak English or Italian fluently.