A/HRC/28/4 72. Mauritania welcomed the measures taken to respect the rights of migrants and to combat racial discrimination. However, greater efforts were required to address the remaining challenges. 73. Mexico noted measures addressing discrimination, gender-based violence and the integration of minorities, which should result in fewer children from those communities living on the street. 74. Montenegro commended the ratification of OP-CAT and the establishment of the national authority for the rights of detainees. It asked how prison overcrowding was addressed. 75. The delegation responded to the questions on cooperation and foreign aid, the Mare Nostrum operation, migration, the ratification of several international instruments and the Slovenian-speaking minority. 76. The title of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation had changed because of a reform that had been passed in 2014, after 27 years. One of the main tasks of the Ministry was to try to increase Italian ODA. Some progress had been achieved; for the third year in a row, Italy had increased the budget allocated to cooperation and foreign aid by 10 per cent. 77. Italy was facing an extraordinary burden vis-à-vis the central Mediterranean route and the number of migrants that were arriving, which was linked to a historical phenomenon. According to data from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), while 3 per cent of the global population was made up of migrants, 90 per cent of that movement was intra-continental. The issue was not only an Italian matter, it was a European issue. The long-term scenario that Europe had to face vis-à-vis migration would need to take into account that in 1950, the European population had been double that of the African population and that, according to the average forecast of United Nations demographics, in 2050, two generations’ time, the population of Africa would be three times that of Europe. 78. Migration had to be managed and migrants’ conditions improved, but that could not be reduced solely to an issue of border control or border management. Efforts made would need to be combined with international development and foreign aid and a model for the future of Africa. A new conversation about the post-2015 development agenda should be able to provide a common grammar to deal with that issue, which would be one of the legacies of the Italian presidency of the Council of the European Union. 79. When referring to migrants, many delegations were talking about migrants and potentially, asylum seekers. Formerly, 80 per cent of the people coming from African or Asian countries had been seeking a better future in Europe. In 2013/2014, almost 75 per cent of those arriving were coming from countries at war, countries in post-conflict situations and fragile countries. The issue of migration could not be considered as a standalone issue and should encompass the broader picture that linked migrants, asylum seekers, political fragility and instability and the crises that were taking place in 2014. Italy was not, politically or geopolitically, in a position to deal with that. 80. Previously, the process for the ratification of international instruments had been somewhat protracted. However, the Government now intended to ratify many pending instruments quickly. Indeed, the ratification process of a number of pending treaties was already under way. The ratification of the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (OP-ICESCR) had been completed and the ratification instrument would be deposited in the near future. Additionally, the ratification process of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a communications procedure had been initiated. Despite the fact that Italy had not ratified the 9