Perturbed by the recent setting on fire of an Indian immigrant and continuous human rights violations faced by certain communities like Roma; Hindus and Jews have appealed Italy to refrain from xenophobic tendencies.
Rajan Zed, acclaimed Hindu statesman; and Rabbi Jonathan B. Freirich, prominent Jewish leader in Nevada and California in USA; in a statement in Nevada today, said that Italy needed to do deep introspection of their hearts and be kind to immigrants, minorities, and Roma people.
Lauding Italian President Giorgio Napolitano for a strong statement against xenophobia, Zed and Rabbi Freirich said that such behavior was not in tune with this great country of Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Tintoretto, Verdi, Fellini, and longstanding history and traditions of tolerance.
They expressed concern at this alarming growing trend for the last about one year, including reported burning of Naples Roma camps, killing of Burkina Faso immigrant, beatings of a Chinese teenager and a student from Ghana, crackdown on Roma settlements. The Human Rights Commissioner of Council of Europe has reportedly repeatedly criticized Italy. If this situation continued, then European Union should intervene in Italy, Zed and Rabbi Freirich stressed.
Zed and Rabbi Freirich urged Italy to treat its Roma populace humanely, who reportedly faced widespread discrimination and victimization. Roma in Italy reportedly continue to be exposed to ill-treatment; hate; violence; unacceptably low living conditions, many times with no access to electricity or running water; higher mortality rates; inadequate camping sites; forced evictions without rehabilitation; etc.
Both religious leaders urged His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, who is the biggest religious leader of the world and based right in the middle of Italy, to persuade Italian government to improve its human rights record and come up with a more compassionate immigration policy. They asked Italian government to “wholeheartedly” work for putting an end to xenophobia related incidents of violence and give adequate compensation to the reportedly brutally beaten (and later set on fire with petrol) Indian immigrant who was asleep.
Rajan Zed, who is president of Universal Society of Hinduism, said that Roma in Italy were reportedly in urgent need of protection of their human rights, social rights, right to proper housing and education, etc. Before evicting them from existing settlements, they should be provided proper alternative accommodation. Their continual social discrimination should also be dealt emergently.
Zed and Rabbi Freirich pointed out that effective implementation, firm commitment and strong political will was needed to improve the Roma plight, who reportedly continually suffered and faced human rights violations.
Roma are said to have migrated from Indian subcontinent to Europe about a thousand years ago. Italy, known for its rich cultural heritage and natural beauty, enjoys the eighth Quality-of-life index rating in the world. Hinduism, oldest and third largest religion of the world, has about one billion adherents and moksha (liberation) is its ultimate goal. Judaism is a monotheistic religion of world’s about 14 million Jews whose most sacred text is Torah.
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