Report on the situation of the Roma people in Italy presented to the European Commission. Will the legislation become law or will it just lie around in the “drawer” of good intentions?
by EveryOne Group
Bruxelles, November 18th, 2008. Here are the first conclusions of the European Parliament on the situation of the persecution of the Roma community in Italy published by some Italian newspapers.
The sources for the report are the findings of the EU delegation after the inspections of some Roma settlements last September, a thick dossier – containing data, documents, photos and videos – made up by Viktoria Mohacsi, EveryOne Group and other human rights organizations; data collected by the National Anti-Discrimination Coordination and the NGOs working for the protection of the Roma people; a great number of press cuttings and a collection of witness reports from members of the Roma ethnic group who are being persecuted throughout Italy. It is an important result that finally makes the truth about the situation of the Roma people in Italy official in the eyes of Europe. It is an important step along the road to emancipation of this national without a compact territory, the results of a complex, difficult task, often carried out in the field, together with Viktoria Mohasci and other anti-racist MEPs. The support of Romanian Roma activists like Nico Grancea and Ionut Ciuraru has been fundamental for creating a network able to keep a constant watch on the ethnic purges and violations being carried out against the Roma people throughout Italy.
The article in the “Corriere della Sera” anticipates the key points of a resolution that is as necessary as it is opposed (in the EU Parliament) by those political parties who reject change and the prelude of an era of respect towards ethnic minorities. If the EU Commission ignores the pressure and remains faithful to the ideals of the new Europe and the European charter of human rights, in December the report will become a resolution - and this time the European Parliament will make sure it is enacted in such a way that Italy will have to stick to the rules. If instead perverted logic were to prevail (the same logic EveryOne Group found itself up against in Rome, during the visit of the European delegation to the Roma camps, when it was antidemocratically expelled from the meetings) the report would undergo such a thorough revision that will be unrecognisable and therefore useless for the emancipation of the Roma people.
It therefore becomes necessary to keep an eye on the “games” that take place in the political offices of the European Union. If it is true that the report makes it official – at least to the European institutions – that institutional persecution against the Roma is taking place (with racist propaganda through the press, a series of abuses and violence carried out against this ethnic group even by members of the police force) it is also true that no integration programmes or antiracism projects sanctioned by European law have been set in motion. EveryOne Group, the National Anti-Discrimination Coordination and others NGOs are constantly updating the dossier on the situation of the Roma community in Italy in order to bring it to the attention of the European Union. The dossier contains evidence and testimonies of the discrimination, the episodes of violence, the pogroms, and denial of fundamental human rights.
A database of the institutional pogroms and ethnic purges that have taken place in the various Italian regions will soon be complete. The report on the Roma people in Italy - if it were to become a legislative resolution - would be another important page written for human rights. The unforgivable mistake, however, would be to lower our guard, because Italy is seriously sick with racism and xenophobia and is now unable to recognise itself in the mirror of civility. The waltz of self-interests and opportunism, furthermore, is not only an Italian habit – there is a shameful “market” at the Roma people’s expense, on all levels.
It is of vital importance, nevertheless, to see that after a thousand years of persecution in Europe, over the last two years (thanks to the work of our activists, several MEPs, important figures and anti-racist political parties) some essential documents have been approved that recognise the discrimination and racist persecution the Roma people (both in Italy and other EU countries) are subjected to. Resolutions and directives that will open the way to a new Europe, a Europe which we hope very soon will recognise the rights of the Roma people and the need to create anti-racist campaigns aimed at fighting the medieval prejudice that is at the root of the marginalization and persecution of an innocent people.
Gruppo EveryOne
Tel: (+ 39) 334-8429527 - (+ 39) 331-3585406
