The violations of human rights in Italy are crimes against humanity. The European Union and United Nations must intervene.
Milan, May 17, 2009. Italy, with its xenophobic, racist and persecutory policies is putting European and world democracy at serious risk. The pushing back to Libya of hundreds of refugees who have fled African countries - where wars, ethnic persecution, famine and dramatic humanitarian disasters are rife - represents the greatest violation of the Geneva Convention and the EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights on the continent in recent years. The international laws, summed up in a report published in 2005 by GCIM (http://www.gcim.org/attachements/TP7.pdf) show quite clearly how the distinction between “illegal immigrants” and “refugees” depends exclusively on the conditions that lead human beings to migrate to a country other than their own.
The boats in which hundreds of people face perilous sea-crossings contain - without a shadow of a doubt – communities of refugees, until proven otherwise. These refugees include children, women (some pregnant), and people in need of medical treatment. We must remember that this fight against refugees from Africa has caused thousands of victims in recent years, as these “voyages of hope” have become even more dangerous due to the procedures that have transformed the boundaries of the Mediterranean into a “European Fortress”.
A fortress in which the only laws in force are xenophobia and a fear of taking in a section of humanity which brings with it the marks of humanitarian disasters. It would seem we have returned to the Middle Ages, because a wall of hostility now separates European civilization from universal brotherhood which lies at the root of a democratic human rights culture. It is important to keep in mind that some time ago the European Union took up the challenge of protecting refugees, attempting to co-ordinate and unify the procedures in the various Member States (see, for example, the EU Green Paper on Asylum published by the European Commission in 2007). To prevent xenophobia disguising itself as “the fight against illegal immigration”, the European Union issued two directives (Directive 2004/83 and Directive 2005/85) in which it attempts to establish minimum standards, both where the granting of asylum is concerned and in the application of reception towards refugees according to levels of international protection.
The 2004 directive does not only recognise asylum to those awarded refugee status, it also offers supplementary protection for those fleeing from dramatic humanitarian situations. Even in cases where refugee status is turned down, the examining body must still weigh up the possibility of granting international protection. The directive sets out the conditions for this type of protection (which is not restrictive), filling in the gaps left by the Geneva Convention and foreseeing protection for refugees escaping from dramatic humanitarian situations. But even before this consideration, we must note that the European Union has shown a desire to undertake a path of hospitality and integration for immigrants in difficulty, not a policy of rejection. In fact the EU is presently studying directives to safeguard the right to inclusion and the integrity of non-EU families, as well as projects of development in anticipation of a future multi-ethnic and multi-cultural society based on equal opportunities.
The present resurgence of nationalism, racism and xenophobia is incompatible with the spirit of the new European Union and it has become necessary to identify sanctions that are able to ensure that the directives and the Charter of Fundamental Rights do not go unheeded (and unpunished) the way Italy is doing, by mocking the EU and the UN institutions. In this sense, the security laws Italy is about to pass contain a terrifying sequence of violations of fundamental rights and the laws contained in the directives.
These violations range from the introduction of the crime of illegal immigration (before being defined such it is necessary to carry out procedures that rule out that the asylum seeker has a right to international protection, and then it has to be established whether it is legally acceptable to criminalize human beings who are exercising their right to migrate without incurring in a violation of human rights); to the legalization of “vigilante patrols” (the same patrols that in recent years have attacked Roma, immigrants, the homeless, homosexuals and people from ethnic or social groups targeted by intolerant ideologies.
We may analyse (also through the use of web search engines) the actions carried out by supporters of the Lega Nord and Forza Nuova, racist movements now present in high-ranking offices of the Italian State, but also in the European Parliament and even in the LIBE (Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs) itself. The “security laws” also contain the obligation to inform on immigrants; detainment in the identification centres (authentic concentration camps) for periods of six months; the removal of children from parents with no papers and a headcount of the homeless.
But the whole decree, useless where real safety is concerned, is structured like a racist law (http://www.everyonegroup.com/EveryOne/MainPage/Entries/2009/5/11_Italy._A_security_decree_contrary_to_the_EUs_Charter_of_Fundamental_Rights.html).
The law legalising of the “vigilante patrols” presents a very serious risk because groups have formed that model themselves on the auxiliaries of the SS, the Arrow Cross Party, the Blackshirts etc. Here is a declaration from a supporter of the Lega Nord who can’t wait to take part in the “Padane vigilante patrols”:
“We can’t wait to get tough with the Negroes, the Moroccans and gypsies,” says Claudio, aged 35 from Brescia, a supporter and voter for the Lega Nord. “With the patrols we can finally show these barbarians who steal, dirty and make life hard for decent people, who is in charge here. All we can see here are invaders and after this law is approved we will smell the stink of burnt Negro flesh”. In the same tone an article published on “Corriere della Sera online” on March 15th, 2009: http://www.corriere.it/cronache/09_maggio_15/nino_luca_quartiere_carmine_brescia_be5f6134-4167-11de-8b5d-00144f02aabc.shtml
See also:
http://www.ilbenecomune.net/2008/ronde-padane-la-falsa-soluzione-che-alimenta-lodio/
http://razzismoitalia.blogspot.com/2009/05/moldavo-aggredito-da-un-gruppo-di.html
To return to the “crime of illegal immigration”, if it is true, (as the Italian Government claims), that Greece and France have also included it in their laws, it is necessary to establish whether it constitutes a legal measure, or whether it violates the right to migrate.
EveryOne Group wishes to remind the institutions and the international authorities that ethnic cleansing (which in Italy affects the Roma people); deportations (as we can define the illegal “pushing back” of refugees and the expulsion of human beings in difficult humanitarian situations); and systematic degrading and inhumane treatment (which takes place on a regular basis in the identification centres) are considered crimes against humanity since we have both the objective element (particularly odious offences in that they constitute a serious attack on human dignity being exercised as a part of a widespread or systematic practice against civilian populations) and the subjective element (voluntary acts, despite the existence of European resolutions and warnings being issued by the European Commission, the European Council, the United Nations and the principal international human rights organizations; as well as an awareness of the violations).
From this perspective we have the texts by Bassiouni, Schwelb, Garraway, Robinson, Bettati, Triffterer and others. EveryOne Group believes that the European Commission, the Council of Europe and the United Nations should take action against the Italian national and local institutions for committing crimes against humanity. On the same basis, the international human rights organizations are about to present a dossier reporting the present situation to the International Criminal Court of the Hague.
Gruppo EveryOne
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