The next dimension of Italian human security analyzed in this paper is personal security, or the threat of violence and crime. Security of the person is a basic entitlement guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations in 1948. While Italy and other developed nations have the security of police forces and military to protect their citizens, there are still plenty of problems that need to be addressed. Organized crime groups intimidate and corrupt while having a corrosive impact on communities. The Mafia which originated in Italy has its influence felt widespread through Italian society, directly affecting 22% of Italians and 14.6% of Italy's GDP. ("Mafia's influence hovers over 13m Italians, says …show more content…
Political security looks at things such as human rights violations and is defined as the defense against any form of political oppression. It is concerned with whether people live in a society that honors their basic human rights. (US Legal) To dissect this portion I will discuss press freedom, human trafficking and rights of the LGBT community in Italy. The press in Italy is subject to a surprisingly high amount of censorship and as a result suffers from one of the lowest levels of press freedom within the European Union. In the 2009 report by Freedom House, Italy was classified as only "partly free", ranked behind most of the former communist states of Eastern Europe. (Freedom House 09) This becomes a problem for the citizens because they don’t know which news sources they can trust. In fact according to a December 2008 poll, only 24% of Italians trust television news programs making Italy one of only three examined countries where online sources are considered more reliable than television ones for information. (Sofres) Levels of political mistrust and misinformation combined with the high levels of corruption and organized crime in Italy set the stage for future political conflict. Human trafficking while being an increasingly global problem has also seen a large rise throughout Italy. While the Government of Italy fully complies with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, Italy remains a destination and transit country for women, children, and men trafficked transnationally for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor. (“Italy". Trafficking in Persons Report 2008.) Increasingly numerous victims are trafficked for labor, mostly in the agricultural sector. According to one NGO, 90 percent of foreign seasonal workers are unregistered and two-thirds are in Italy illegally, rendering them vulnerable to