Racism in Italy? Roma crackdown draws critics

A curious thing happened when Italian sunbathers near Naples found themselves steps away from the bodies of two Roma girls who drowned in the sea - absolutely nothing.

The girls had gone swimming, got into difficulty and drowned, despite a rescue attempt.

Once their corpses were dragged ashore and covered with towels, many beachgoers went back to the task in hand, sunning themselves for an hour until police took the bodies of Cristina, 11, and her sister Violetta, 12, away.

The reaction, or lack of it, was captured in a widely published photograph that has resonated in Italy and abroad. It has raised questions about attitudes towards Roma as Italy pursues a "census" of minorities as a way of tackling crime.

Conservative Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi won a landslide victory in April's election on a promise to get tough on crime, which many Italians blame on immigrants.

"Indifference isn't an emotion for human beings," said Naples Cardinal Crescenzo Sepe. "And it is much less one that can and should be directed at Violetta and Cristina, already marked by a life of hardship and perhaps weakened by prejudice."

An estimated 140,000 Roma, also known as "gypsies" and "nomads", live in Italy, many in squalid shantytowns on the fringes of cities.

Although many are citizens of Italy or other European countries, critics say they are often treated like a sub-class of immigrants and targeted by police.

Religious groups compared an Italian government plan to fingerprint Roma and their children to the tagging of Jews by Nazis in the 1930s. The plan was condemned by the European Parliament and by Romania, from where many Roma hail. It now appears to have been dropped.

Marco Rossi, a barman in central Rome, counts himself among those Italians who think Roma should be fingerprinted and catalogued to help fight crime, and doesn't feel that makes him a racist.

"Racism is when you burn them out of their camps," Mr Rossi said, speaking at a café in Rome. A customer nods in agreement.

Nearby, a right-wing youth group hung a poster demanding "Fingerprints and a Census Right Away" at Roma camps.

A EU survey showed 47 per cent of Italians are "uncomfortable" around Roma - the highest figure in the 27-nation bloc, tying with the Czech Republic.

Only five per cent of Italians said they had Roma friends, compared with 32 per cent in Spain and 11 per cent in Britain.

UN rapporteurs criticised Mr Berlusconi's government for "aggressive and discriminatory rhetoric" against Roma, saying it created an environment of "hostility, antagonism and stigmatisation".

Rights group Amnesty International called on EU member states to speak out against "a full fledged campaign against Roma".

"Let's be clear: What we are seeing is a witch-hunt disguised as security concerns," said Nicolas Beger, director of Amnesty's EU Office.

But Mr Rossi and other advocates of the census say the situation is untenable. They say Roma should not be left to live in squalid shantytowns, allowing generations to be born into the margins of society, children begging on the streets instead of going to school.

Interior Minister Roberto Maroni says Italy is engaged in a "humanitarian mission" to help the Roma community and held out the promise of Italian citizenship to abandoned Roma children, saying: "6,000 Roma children don't even know what a school is."

A small Roma shantytown alongside a highway was the first in Rome to undergo a "census" by the Red Cross, a programme set to run through September.

Partly to show that it was not going to fingerprint Roma, and that identification was voluntary, the Red Cross brought along journalists as it started its work.

"I work, I work," said Remos Nae, father of four children who arrived in Italy three months ago. His legs were pocked with open sores, flies crawling on them.

He pointed to a pile of scrap metal he collected and said he sold it to make money.

Red Cross workers asked his family if they wanted to register for an "identity card", saying it would allow them to have free medical care.

One woman, half her face scarred from burns, refused the registration. She nursed a baby and looked away when reporters tried to speak to her through a translator.

Mr Nae registered, but doubted it would help.

"In a few weeks, the police come and then we go back to Romania," he speculated.

Roma around Europe

Italy has been criticised over plans to crackdown on its Roma minority. Here are some details about Roma around Europe:

European Union:

• The EU executive has urged member states to offer better life opportunities to Roma people, who suffer discrimination.

• The Commission published a study saying Roma are often not given equal chances to advance socially across the EU, although they are covered by anti-discrimination rules including access to jobs, social security systems, services and housing.

UNICEF Report:

• A 2005 UNICEF report said 84 per cent of Roma in Bulgaria, 88 per cent in Romania and 91 per cent in Hungary lived below the poverty line.

• There were about 3.7 million Roma in the five countries covered by the report - Bulgaria, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania and Serbia - 1.7 of whom are children.

• 53 per cent of the Roma reportedly went hungry in the previous month whereas nine per cent of the non-roma population did.

Decade of roma inclusion 2005-2015:

• The idea of the decade emerged from the first high-level regional conference on Roma held in Hungary in 2003.

• The decade is a commitment by governments in central and southeastern Europe to improve the socio-economic status and social inclusion of Roma. There are nine countries taking part, all of which have significant Roma minorities.

• Early this year, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Spain declared their intention to join the decade.

Roma around Europe:

Hungary: More than 600,000 Roma live in Hungary, mostly in the northeast, forming the biggest ethnic minority out of an overall population of 10 million. Discrimination is widespread. The EU has ranked the country among the worst offenders in terms of housing segregation.

Italy: Between 130,000 and 150,000 Roma live in Italy, where they tend to be blamed for crime and insecurity. Italy had planned to fingerprint Roma living in camps as well as shutting down unauthorised camps and repatriate people who are in Italy illegally. The move was condemned by the European Parliament, Romania - where many Roma come from - and religious groups. Following the outcry, a parliamentary committee agreed that all citizens should be fingerprinted for their identity cards. The measure has yet to pass through parliament. Last May, several Roma camps were torched, sparking a diplomatic incident between Rome and Bucharest.

Macedonia: Between 150,000 and 250,000, or about 10.5 per cent of the population. Roma have gained unique constitutional equality in Macedonia in a spin-off from a peace deal between the government and the largest minority, ethnic Albanians.

Slovakia: 108,000. Slovakia's Roma usually have limited access to jobs and education and often live in squalid conditions without basic public services.

Turkey: Roma people are not recognised by Turkey as a minority group. Attempts at organising politically or even culturally may be seen as acts against the state, punishable by law. Between 300,000 and 500,000 Roma live in Turkey. Roma report frequent forced evictions.