New laws are needed in Italy to protect the country’s Roma and Sinti residents from discrimination, according to a new Committee of Ministers resolution.
It was adopted on 4 July following a report on Italy’s compliance with the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities.
The resolution states that “despite the fact that the Italian Government supports the Roma and Sinti population through a national strategy of integration and specific measures, the adoption of a specific legislative framework at national level for the protection of the Roma and Sinti living in Italy is still needed.”
Following his visit to Italy, human rights commissioner Nils Muižnieks welcomed the recent adoption of a national strategy for the integration of Roma, stating that it “distances itself from the very harmful approach of the ‘Nomad emergency,’” but “has to be implemented consistently.”
Nils Muižnieks added: “It is therefore difficult to understand actions which appear to contradict the spirit of the strategy, such as the attempt to overturn the Council of State ruling declaring the ‘Nomad emergency’ unlawful, or the continuing construction of a segregated camp near Rome.”
The Commissioner said that the good co-operation established between municipal authorities and Roma and Sinti in some cities should become the rule and be built upon to ensure that forced evictions into isolated camps are “relegated to the past.”
The Essential
Information: Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities
Podcast: Minority integration in Europe
Video: Minority Report
News: Nils Muižnieks – “For human rights protection, Italy needs a clear break with past practices”
Podcast: Nils Muižnieks – My first 60 days as Commissioner for Human Rights
News: Roma in Europe
