Roma, 5 Mar. (askanews) – “From the vision to the concrete implementation of the bill. From today the National Day of Kindness will be presented at a bicameral level and therefore institutionalized. Not a symbolic event, but an event that promotes concrete stabilization of kindness within the social infrastructure of our country and therefore kindness could also become measurable and so pay attention to the metrics, pay attention to the effects” is how Natalia Re, president of the Italian Movement for Kindness, comments on the presentation to the Senate of the “Kindness Act”, the first Italian law proposal which aims to enhance the concrete effects of kindness as a new indicator of well-being, making it part of the BES, those indicators capable of measuring the quality of life of a country, in addition to the GDP. The proposal, which begins its official process today, was requested by the MIG, and supported by Senator Raoul Russo and the Honorable Maria Carolina Varchi.
National Kindness Day, the first bill presented in the Senate
“In this context, Italy can contribute with an original proposal: recognize kindness as a measurable dimension of well-being and as a social infrastructure of development. The Kindness Act proposal fits exactly into this international trajectory: offering Italy the opportunity to translate the value of kindness into a measurable dimension, capable of guiding public policies, organizational choices and social investments” explains Natalia Re.
From Japan to Bhutan, countries that care about kindness
With this bill Italy is taking action in step with the rest of the world. In fact, there are already many countries that have regulated the topic. An example is Japan which has laws that promote mutual respect and cultural inclusion. Or Canada, which already in 1988 had passed the Multiculturalism Act, a federal law that promotes multiculturalism as a fundamental value for Canadian society. In Bhutan, however, Gross National Happiness (GNH) was introduced, a measure of well-being adopted to guide public policies, an alternative to traditional gross domestic product (GDP).
While in Australia the National Day of Action Against Bullying and Violence and various local laws and initiatives are in force to combat bullying and violence, particularly in schools. While Scandinavian countries promote kindness, respect and social inclusion as an integral part of public policies.
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