ROME, NOVEMBER 9 – Diplomat Fabrizio Petri is Italy’s first Special Envoy for the Human Rights of LGBTQI+ people in the world. Current Chair of the Interministerial Committee for Human Rights (CIDU), Petri is the first Italian individual to hold the position, recently created by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Luigi Di Maio, which puts Italy at the forefront of international protection of the rights of LGBTQI+ persons.
“I take this position aware of the great challenges linked to a true advancement of human rights of LGBTQI+ people, starting with the decriminalisation of homosexuality. My strong, past and present commitment to these issues will continue with even greater efforts in the future”, Petri said as he took office.
The Special Envoy will coordinate the action of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the protection against discriminations and the promotion of the rights of LGBTQI+ persons and communities, also promoting the wider decriminalisation of homosexuality in the world. Homosexuality is still considered a crime in about seventy countries, some of which still impose death penalty. At the suggestion of Minister Di Maio, the vulnerability of LGBTQI+ people should be adequately taken into account in the framework of the programmes financed by the Italian Cooperation.
Thanks to the appointment of a Special Envoy, who will play his role on the international level together with other Italian administrations, the European Union, the United Nations and other multilateral bodies, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs wishes to reaffirm its commitment to the protection and promotion of the rights of LGBTQI+ persons, already an integral part of Italy’s foreign policy on human rights, focused on the protection of human dignity and the full enjoyment of political, civil, economic, social and cultural rights, as well as the fight against all forms of intolerance and discrimination. (@giorgiodelgallo)
