A/HRC/43/44/Add.6 Italian remarks following the draft Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to food on her visit to Italy The Italian Authorities thank the Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Ms Hilal Helver, for sharing in advance the outcome of the visit to Italy to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and take this opportunity to reiterate their firm willingness to continue cooperating fully and extensively with the ONU and its distinguished Special Procedures, mechanisms mandateholders. The Italian authorities would therefore like to draw the attention of the Special Rapporteur on the following proposals for the text of the report (in italics in red) and to offer a few comments on the draft version of the report in the Final Remarks and the ADDENDUM. II. The legal and policy structure of the right to food (..) C. The Recognition of the Right to Food at the Regional and Local Level 22. Despite good practices, the fragmentation of the food system explains the current unequal access to adequate food at the national level, and unequal distribution of farmers’ markets and organic shops. Moreover, the lack of clear statistics concerning the regions and authorities show a gap that should be filled. Comments: The report infers that Italy suffers from “unequal access to adequate food at the national level” and attributes such a situation to “the fragmentation of the food system”. Unless data, statistics and evidence be provided, such a categorical statement remains not substantiated and therefore factually incorrect. The correlation between “fragmentation” and “unequal access” is not automatic; it should be explained and motivated. Therefore, we ask you to delete or substantially redraft the sentence “Despite good practices, the fragmentation of the food system explains the current unequal access to adequate food at the national level...”. III. Poverty, social protection and food aid 24. After the economic crisis hit in 2007/2008, Italy has struggled to recover and many families have gone from middle-income to low-income, in many cases unable to access sufficient quality food. With an unemployment rate of 9,8% 1 , the country is affected by consistent poverty rates. Poverty levels have also been exacerbated by the migration influx, which has brought to the country a number of migrants escaping from war and famine in their country of origin. They, together with those Italian families who have been greatly affected by the consequences of the economic crisis, are the new poor in this country. Data from 2018 accounts for a total of 5 million people in extreme poverty (8,4%). A highest percentage of families living in absolute poverty can be registered in the south (9,6%) and in the islands (10,8%) as compared to the north-west (95,3%) and north-east and centre (5,3%)2. Minors in absolute poverty account for 12,6% of the total population and the incidence of absolute poverty among foreigners is 30,3%. Comments: 1 2 2 Data for December 2019, published by ISTAT in January 2020. ISTAT – La poverta’ in Italia 2018.