Report Documents Italy’s Abuse of Roma, Raises Specter of Past Persecution

BRUSSELS—A coalition of NGOs today released a report capturing the magnitude of recent racist and xenophobic action against Roma in Italy.

Compiled by human rights observers in July 2008, the report includes documentation from May 2008 of recent attacks against Roma, including physical violence, forced evictions, and abusive raids—fueled by the government's anti-Romani policies.

"Officials in Italy are capitalizing on their citizenry's fear about immigration and security to push an agenda of hatred against Roma," said Tara Bedard from the European Roma Rights Centre. "Fingerprinting children, destruction of homes, and physical violence have become a routine part of everyday life for many Roma in Italy."

In April 2008, Forza Italia, a right-wing conservative party, won the general election, bringing the level anti-Romani sentiment in official discourse to new levels. Since late May 2008, the new government has adopted a series of legal and policy measures that explicitly discriminate against Roma, in clear violation of international and domestic law.

Likening the mere presence of Roma in the country to a state of emergency, government officials have begun a campaign to document and fingerprint all inhabitants of Romani camps, in violation of data protection provisions. Romani settlements have been attacked by Italian citizens, including the Romani camp in Ponticelli which, since 13 May has been attacked and burned to the ground three times by mobs of ethnic Italians.

"The Italian government has failed to condemn actions of racist aggression against Roma, and so far, not one person has been held accountable for attacks on Romani camps," said Iulian Stoian, executive director of the Roma Civic Alliance of Romania. "The attacks on Roma in Italy should be a wake-up call for the European Union, yet Members States have failed to offer desperately needed leadership on this issue."

The report, Security a la Italiana: Fingerprinting, Extreme Violence and Harassment of Roma in Italy, puts forth urgent recommendations to the Italian authorities, the European Union, the Council of Europe, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, and the United Nations, among other groups.

"The EU should define a European standard for Roma Inclusion, and not let the Berlusconi government create its own de-facto Roma exclusion standard in Europe. This should be the agenda of the forthcoming EU Roma Summit in September," concluded Andre Wilkens, Director of the Open Society Institute–Brussels.