Uppsala University

Department of Government

Bachelor thesis

Spring 2009

Rome, Romanians, Roma

Between security and integration

Author: Jasmina Munteanu

2009-04-25

Supervisor: Branka Likic-Brboric

2

Abbreviations................................................................................................................... 3 Concepts ........................................................................................................................... 3 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................. 4 1.1 The aim of the study and Research Questions ...................................................... 6 1.2 Outline of the study .................................................................................................. 6

2. Research method and sources ........................................................................................... 7 3. New Migration Patterns, Italian migration regime and its Europeanisation ........... 11 4. Legal framework for regularisations in Italy ................................................................. 16 5. Roma people ....................................................................................................................... 18

5.1 Roma people in the Italian media ................................................................... 19 5.2 In the settlements of Rome ................................................................................... 21

6. Security solutions .............................................................................................................. 23 6.1 The Italian Security-package ................................................................................. 23 6.2 Implementation actors and practices .................................................................. 24 6.3 Security measures in the European Union ......................................................... 26

7. Fighting discrimination towards Roma in Italy ............................................................ 27 7.1 The Racial Equality Directive 2000/43/EC ........................................................ 27 7.2 The practices of and obstacles to the implementation of the Racial Equality Directive ......................................................................................................................... 28

8. Conclusion and discussion ............................................................................................... 30 9. References ........................................................................................................................... 34

9.1 Interviews ................................................................................................................. 39 Appendix 1................................................................................................................... 41

3

Abbreviations

EB Equality body

EC European Council

ECJ European Court of Justice

EU European Union

MS Member States

NGO Non Governmental organisation

RED The Racial Equality Directive 2000/43/EC

Concepts Assimilation The goal with total assimilation is a total integration of the

immigrant in the arrival country. The immigrant should fully become a French

citizen like the French example of total assimilation.1

Caritas Italiana Is a Christian organisation active in 64 countries worldwide,

working to support poor people in establishing secure livelihoods. One of the

areas in which they specialize is among others immigration.

EveryOne Group “is an organization of people who operate outside any

political wing or faction and who are committed to fighting discrimination and

in particular the persecution of minority groups and in favour of human

rights”2, among these Roma people.

A Gypsy is a nomadic person whose tribes came originally from India,

entered Europe in 14th or 15th century and lives now all over the world”3. “A

person who moves from place to place as required for employment”4. The

political correct term to use is Roma, the word Gypsy has a negative

connotation that excludes the gypsies from the rest of the society, seeing them

as aliens that are not able to integrate in the societies. 5

1 Sacco, G., 1996 p.203. 2 http://www.everyonegroup.com/EveryOne/Everyone_Group.html. 3 http://ardictionary.com/Gypsy/5249. 4 http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Gypsy. 5Kovats, M, 2003 “The politics of Roma Identity, Between nationalism and destitution” p.4.

4

Irregular migrant Describes a person staying within a country’s territory

without a residence permit. The Parliamentry Assembly of the Council of

Europe prefers to use the term “irregular migrant” and not other terms as

“illegal migrant” or “migrant without papers”.6

Ius soli – gives the person the right to obtain citizenship in the country of

birth, an example is France.7

Ius sanguinis – the person can only become citizen by being born of a parent

with the respective citizenship, an example is Italy. 8

Nomad “A member of a group of people who have no fixed home and move

according to the seasons from place to place in search of food, water, and

grazing land”9. ”One of a race or tribe that has no fixed location, but wanders

from place to place in search of pasture or game.” 10

Roma The word used by the gypsies to define themselves, meaning man in the

language Romani. 11 Roma is the political correct term including different

communities with different needs, potentials, living in different social,

economic and political environments. 12 They identify themselves as an ethnical

group with a common history and language and the lack of an own territory.13

Sinti Some of the Roma people emigrated into Northern Italy, Germany,

Austria and Slovenia in the beginning of the 13th century and are living in the

country since than. They prefer to be called “Sinti”, coming from “Sindh” the

religion from their provenience, the West part of Pakistan.

6 Parliamentary Assembly, Resolution 1509, 2006 ”Human rights of irregular migrants”. 7 Sacco, G, 1996, p.141. 8 Sacco, G, 1996, p.141. 9 http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Nomad. 10 http://ardictionary.com/Nomad. 11 Cagol, M, 1995 ”An unknown population” (Un popolo sconosciuto). 12Kovats, M, 2003 “The politics of Roma Identity, Between nationalism and destitution” p.4. 13 Ricordy, A. 2008, "Rom e sinti, Mappatura degli interventi delle Caritas Diocesane".

5

1. Introduction

The Roma people are one of the largest ethnic minorities in the European

Union. They are divided into several groups, depending on their geographical

and historical background. In the 15th century a large part of them settled in

Romania and the rest started to emigrate in different countries of Europe. In

the 1990s, more than 60% of the Romanian asylum-seekers were Roma

people. When Romania entered the European Union in January 2007, their

Roma community became also EU citizens, having the same rights as the

citizens within the other Member States. Romanian citizens are at the moment

the second largest group of immigrants with the residence in Italy. Just in the

region of Latium, where the capital of Italy Rome is situated, there are 92.258

Romanian residents. However, among these Romanians, there are also

Romanian citizens of Roma ethnicity, being part of the so called “Roma

people”. The number of Roma situated in Italy reaches up to 150.000 people,

many of them living in settlements outside the city centres. There are different

categories of settlements, depending on the regulation status: authorized,

semi-authorized and irregular settlements with critical standards of living.

With the justification of solving the emergent situation caused by the high

number of immigrants in Italy, the Italian government has put in force a so

called Security Package. This reorganisation gives municipalities the right to

authorize or shut down the settlement using the police force in order to expel

the irregular Roma people. The Italian media has during the last two years

visualised many negative cases as crimes, harassment, burglary and raping

involving Roma people. The prejudices that can be read between the lines have

engendered my motivation to find out more about the Roma people in order to

scrutinize the myth and separate the latter from actual facts. This is done by following

Roma peoples living situation and their opportunities to integrate in the Italian society

by studying the laws and policies they are subject to in Italy and in the EU. In order to

fight against the racial discrimination in the European Union, the Racial Equality

Directive 2000/43/EC has been formed in June 2000. The directives purpose is the

equal treatment between persons apart from race or ethnic origin in the MS, including

the Roma people. The interview method has been used in order to understand the

struggle for their rights proceeds at grass roots level.

6

1.1 The aim of the study and Research Questions

The main aim of the study is to address the issue of discrimination and

possibilities for integration of the Roma people in the context of the European

Unions enlargement and ongoing Europeanisation of the Italian migration

regime. Security measures that have an impact on the Roma people’s situation

and obstruct the implementation of the Racial Equality Directive will be

illustrated. The focus of the case study is the Roma people living in the Region

of Latium in Italy in the camps belonging to the Municipality of Rome.

The main research question is:

• Do the laws and policies that Italy has adopted follow the European Union

Laws and Directives moreover how do they impact upon the Roma people’s

opportunities to integrate in the Italian society?

In order to find out this, three other questions will be added to the research:

• What are the obstacles, formal, institutional and informal, involving norms,

values and attitudes to the anti-discrimination and integration of Roma in the

receiving society?

• How are the security measures taken by the Italian government in relation

with the Roma settlement implemented by the Italian police?

• How do NGOs work to promote the rights of and help the Roma people?

1.2 Outline of the study

The thesis is divided into five parts. The first part is dedicated to the

theoretical approach and the main conceptions used in the research,

presenting facts about irregular migration, the Europeanisation concept,

migration policy and law implementation, Roma politics and the struggle

between Freedom and Security. In the second part the Italian migration laws:

Law Martelli 39/90, Turco Napolitano 40/98 and Bossi-Fini law 189/2002 will

be described and analyzed using documents from other scholars. The third

part of the paper will focus on the Roma people illustrating their provenience

and presence in Italy, the public discourse pictured by the Italian media and

7

their living situations in the settlements in and outside Rome. The fourth part

will address the Italian “Security Package”, the measures taken by the Italian

police and the Security measures on the European level. The fifth and last part

will spotlight European Union’s approach to migration with the creation of

“The Racial Equality Directive 2000/43/EC” in order to fight discrimination

and its implementation into the Italian laws and policies.

2. Research method and sources

In order to answer the research questions and meet the objectives I have used

various selected documents and published literature on the Italian migration

regime in general and Roma situation in particular. Part of the material was in

Italian, the description of the Italian Laws was not available in English. Hence,

the first problem was the comprehension and the translation of the material

into English. This can lead to a distortion or misinterpretation of facts if the

proficiency of Italian is insufficient, as expressed by Karl. R. Popper “The

modification of a single word can change the significance of an entire text”.14

Antiseri (1996) uses H.G. Gadamer to explain that translating a text from the

original language to another language, in this case from Italian to English, can

never result in a pure reproduction of the original text. The end result is

instead a reproduction of the comprehension of the facts given in the text of

origin. The translator must take the responsibility of the interpretation of the

text of origin. This analysis of documents is combined with a qualitative study,

mainly half-structured interviews with three persons working with Roma

people.

The method of interview has been used in order to catch information about

event and the get the subjective estimation of the interview persons. As

described in the Method book by Teorell and Svensson (2007) a mixture of

these two interview modes is frequently used. The goal with an interview is to

get a detailed and authentic answer as far as it is possible.15 Criteria’s set in

order to achieve this goal are that the interview persons motivation to answer,

14 Antiseri, D., 1996, p.336. 15 Teorell, J & Svensson, T, 2007, p. 89.

8

the sense of confidence for the interviewer and the possibility to give

independent answers.16 The first contact step in order to ask for the permission

of making an interview must clearly describe the intension of the interview and

the value of the persons´ answers for the thesis. The questionnaire (Appendix

1) was delivered using written electronic post as the source of in order to avoid

language misunderstandings and difficulties caused by not being able to follow

the interview in person when the as when the interview is made face to face or

on the telephone. Using a questionnaire sent by electronic post has avoided the

pressured situation the interview person has to confront when the interview is

set in person. This method does not give the interview person the occasion to

put a question in case of meeting an unclear question or a question with many

ways of interpretation. The method does not give the interviewer the

possibility to make successive questions directly. The questionnaire left a

rather free space of comprehension and the chance to correct if the person did

not agree with sections of the questionnaire. This was done in order to give

them confidence since they are experts in their different fields of work. The

consequence was to receive answers they considered central for the specific

subject. Using the method of open answer alternatives gives the interviewees

the space for free expression without restraint from the fixed answer options.

A half-structured questionnaire with a great number of questions has been

used in order to graze on so several perspectives of the work with Roma

people. The questions were prepared taking in consideration the present

situation of the Roma people by reading reports and finding information from

different sources as Internet, books, professors and lectures. The level of

language used in the interviews was simple in order to avoid

misunderstandings. Both answers and questions were written in Italian and

were afterwards translated by the author using external help from a

professional. These three interview persons were chosen in order to see the

implementation of Italian policy and politics from three rather different fields

and positions. The interviewed individuals have been asked for the

authorisation of using their name in the thesis but the choice of some of them

to remain anonymous has been respected.

16 Teorell, J & Svensson, T, 2007, p. 89.

9

The first questionnaire was made with the Lieutenant Colonel, responsible for

the Security of the Roma and Sinti settlements that belong to the Municipality

of Rome. A formal questionnaire paper was sent to him by electronic post on

9th May 2009 on the subject of security and control measures, identification

process, authorization and legalization of the Roma and Sinti settlements. The

aim was to find out how the Security Package is put into practice and try to

discover if they contain any lacks that obstruct the field work. The Colonel did

not answer the last two questions on the topic of the use of violence of the

police towards the people living in the nomad camps and the measures taken

against persons that use violence towards the camps, for example right-wing

groups. In his answer, received on the 16th May 2009, he used the words

“nomads” instead of Roma/Sinti people, or even occupants and “camps”

referring to the settlements. Together with his answers, he also delivered a

document describing the authorized and the semi-authorized camps in the

Municipality of Rome. It was hard to get a picture of how policy and political

measures have influenced the Security field because the answer received of the

colonel were professional and curt.

The second interview person is a province delegate of the Italian Red Cross

taking part of a group of volunteers working since two years in the nomad

camps in the Municipality of Rome in order to help with sanitary affairs in

general and give special assistance to minors. A questionnaire paper was sent

on 11th May 2009 by electronic post with the aim of getting to know facts about

the role of the Red Cross, security and control measures, the living situation in

the Roma settlements, her personal experiences taken from in the field, the

Roma people, the instruments given by the institutions and eventual solution

ideas regarding Roma peoples´ living conditions and future. The Red Cross is a

politically independent organisation and it is for this reason that in her reply of

15th May 2009 she did not answer the questions pertaining to Italian politics.

The volunteers´ aim is to offer help to the people in the camps and this may

give a “humanitarian image of the situation”. Same types of questions

regarding security were used for both the Red Cross Province Delegate as for

the Lieutenant Colonel in order to see the difference between their working

positions.

10

The third interview person is Roberto Malini, responsible for the work withing

the Roma people area in “Everyone Group”, a non governmental organisation

which bases its campaign on the continuous study of the Italian and

International human laws and hand in researches and motion texts to the

European Parliament, the Commission and the Council. The questionnaire

form was sent to him by electronic post on 8th of May 2009 in order to find out

more about the role of Everyone group, the activist work, the Roma people,

security and control measures, the Italian Government and Law in confront

with Roma people, the Italian media and the public opinion, and the

implementation of the Racial Equality Directive 2000/43/EC in the Italian

legislation. The questionnaire used for the interview with Everyonegroup and

the one sent to the Red Cross was identical. The questionnaire was divided into

four different blocks, starting from personal experiences, media, Roma people

and ending with the political field. The idea was to get a rather personal view of

these individuals being in close contact with the Roma people, their picture of

how the Italian government and politicians deal with the subject and their

personal opinion for the future. Malini replied on 17th of May 2009, dividing

his answers into four blocks: cases that have gathered attention in Italy, the

public opinion influenced by right-wing groups, the activist anti-

discrimination work and the implementation of RED. The activist representing

the Everyonegroup works on a political level with the rights of Roma and Sinti

people and can give a broader depiction of the situation tackled when lobbying

towards Italy’s politicians.

The interviews will be used from beginning to the end of the thesis in order to

show the point of view of the three interviewed individuals in all different

areas, being aware of the fact that their opinions are subjective.

11

3. New Migration Patterns, Italian migration

regime and its Europeanisation

As an introduction of the area under discussion, this part of the study contains

terms that are important in order to understand when treating the migration

question within the politics of a national state. The use of a top down

perspective with the impact of the European Union on the Member states and

the aspects characterizing ethnical minorities are being discussed.

The extension of the EU borders, first in 2004 and later in 2007 with the entry

of Bulgaria and Romania, allow the citizens from East Europe to work in

another country without settling down. Europe benefits from the East-

European migration as a new labour force taking the jobs the other citizens do

not want to do, as described by the Favell (2008) “the 3D´s, dirty dangerous

and dull jobs”.17 This is valid also for the immigrants situated in Italy working

as domestic workers, in construction and agriculture. Even if the migrants are

well-educated they take the offered job-opportunities because the home-

market has either a lack of job or offers a lower wage. Europe is also in a

demographic need of immigrants, the birth rate being very low, especially in

Italy where the fertility rate is 1,3 18 births per woman.19 The migration is not

only a gain for Europe but also for the countries of origin being able to grow

efficiently with the help of the remittances. In the same time, the Eastern

European countries start to lose their own labour force and are therefore

partially dependent on migration.20 The negative side of the increasing

migration flows is the irregular migration, also categorized as undocumented

or illegal migration. The networks of irregular migration are conducted by so

called “migration agents” helping the migrants to cross the borders and offer

them job opportunities or lead them to trafficking or prostitution.21 Persons

with tourist visas staying in the visiting country after the limit of three months

become irregular. The status of an illegal migrant can change to legal when the 17 Favell, A., 2008, “The New Face of East-West Migration in Europe” p. 704. 18 2,1 is considered enough. 19 Sacco, G, 2007, “A farewell to Italy: Demography and Immigration”. 20 Plotnik, A., 2008 ”Exploatarea muncitorilor imigranti in romania”. 21 Favell, A., 2008, “The New Face of East-West Migration in Europe”p. 708.

12

hosting country changes the migration policy. A legal migrant can also become

illegal loosing her/his job, not renewing the staying permit or committing an

illegal act. Illegal migration creates a will of strict border regulation in order to

face the heavily uncontrolled entries into the state.

Freedom and security are two different concepts important in the study of

movement of citizens. Freedom is described by Guild, Carrera and Balzacq

(2008) as liberty, with laws made in order to protect the individuals in the

society, as for example the treaties of the International Human rights and the

European Unions. Security on the other hand, is described as a public good in

a society composed by different groups and individuals, where some of them

are being more protected than others depending on their position in the

society. The construction of a “permanent state of fear”22 where a conflict

between data protection, fundamental rights and liberty is created can lead to

an insecurity situation for the individual. The security area meets a problem

between the methods used by the European Community and the

intergovernmental method. It contains a lack of reliance at both national and

EU level because it is hard to show between which authorities the data has

been exchanged and how the data has been used. Protection of the liberty

should be the first priority in the Member States and security should just be an

instrument used in case of its violation, consider Guild, Carrera and Balzacq,

In order to create the rules for entry and exit of foreign nationals and to

maintain the control and sovereignty of the state over its territory, the creation

of immigration policies is fundamental. Integration of the immigration policies

has been an important development within the European Union. Ette and

Faist (2007) define the present phase of integration as an “increasing

communitarisation” where the role of the national state in policy making has

been reallocated to the level of European Union. Ette and Faist have designed

two ways to describe the need of a European cooperation on immigration.

Firstly, as a consequence of an immigration that has become more complex to

control were the states ask for a universal solution for their internal struggles.

Secondly, the Member States require protection of their territories in order to

22 Guild, E., Carrera, S. and Balzacq, T., 2008, “The changing dynamics of security in an enlarged EU”.

13

solve the problems created by global movement and crime. This generates a

will to collaborate creating a common European policy and law structure.

Other reasons are the conflicts between ethnic and minority groups; right-wing

groups, the public opinion and scarce resources within the Member States that

pushes it towards the supranational stage of cooperation.23 These national

struggles have as a natural consequence the cooperation within the EU

followed by the pressure from this community to reach the goals set. Ette and

Faist use the term Europeanisation to explain the influence of the EU toward

its Member States. Europeanisation is based both on a bottom up and a top

down procedure between the MS and the EU. They are two forms of

Europeanisation. Firstly, the prescriptive Europeanisation, when the EU

indicates what a MS is required to do in order to achieve a certain European

level, offering none or just some freedom of action in the national policy

making. Secondly, the discursive Europeanisation, in this situation the EU

provides guidelines and offers the MS the possibility to elaborate its own

policies. These are three steps used to define the procedure of

Europeanisation:

1. “The development of a governmental system and the formation of particular

policies at the European level” 24

2. The policies created in step one are influencing the internal policy-making

process

3. The internal policies and politics are constrained to adjust to the European

stage of progress25

Having these steps clear, we now take a look of the process of changing the

policies and politics within the Member states. The study of Radaelli (2003) is

used by the Ebba and Faist in order to distinguish between four types of

changes:

1. Intertia implies that a change has not occurred and can be a result of the

disapproval of the MS towards the EU policies. As a consequence the MS has

23 Ette, A.. & Faist, T., 2007”The Europeanisation of national policies and politics of immigration” p.7. 24 Ette, A. & Faist, T., 2007”The Europeanisation of national policies and politics of immigration” p.14. 25 Ette, A., Faist, T., ”The Europeanisation of national policies and politics of immigration” p.15.

14

difficulties with implementation of directives, objects towards EU-changes or

remarks on the directives given by the EU.

2. Absorption describes a movement towards the European conditions without

an adjustment of the domestic policy and politics.

3. Transformation is the phase where the national policy or politics transform.

An example of a policy change of this kind is the anti-discrimination directive

of the EU.

4. Retrenchment can arise when the national governments diverge from the

European immigration policy. An example is the Spanish quota policy on

irregular migration.26

Finally, Ette and Faist stress on the fact that the migration policies are well-

rooted into the role played by the national states that fails to control the

outcomes of its migration policies when it focuses towards law-making at the

national level. The construction of the EU is characterized by a reduced

capacity of intervention when it comes to the internal affairs of the Member

States. Therefore, the impact of the European Union on immigration policies

within the MS is limited.

A closer look will now be given on Italy and its national administration. As

described by Veikou and Triandafyllidou (2004), the implementation and

enforcement of the Italian immigration policy is shaped “by the organisational

culture and the structure of the relevant public services”27. Some

characteristics of the Italian administration and organisation are pointed out

by Veikou and Triandafyllidou:

1. Division “between national and regional levels in policy making and

enforcement of immigration laws”28 – decentralizing the decision making

towards the regional offices.

2. Legal provisions unadjusted to changes within the society and policy

require. Political outbreaks that interrupt the immigration work with a long-

term view.

26 Ette, A., Faist, T., ”The Europeanisation of national policies and politics of immigration” p.20. 27 Veikou, M. & Triandafyllidou, A., 2004 “Immigration policy and its implementation in Italy” p.19. 28 Veikou, M. & Triandafyllidou, A., 2004 “Immigration policy and its implementation in Italy” p.20.

15

3. The inertia of old attitudes characterizing the administrative structure being

under transition towards nature of modern institution.

4. Public workers on high position posts put into practice their political

proposals (to a certain point).

5. Local practices violate the national laws and the high regional competence

creates a decision problem.

6. Structure vagueness in decision and competence between authorities and

regional administrative bodies. Irregularity when private or political actors

also play a role in the implementation process. 29

Now the focus will be set towards the inclusion of Roma people in the

immigration policies. Martin Kovats (2003) explains that policy making based

on “ethnic disparity” creates social conflicts and tensions between the minority

population (in this case being the Roma people) and the majority population.

This creates prejudices and keeps the minority in a segregated position in the

society, holding back the possibility of integration.30

In its way, social disintegration and growing discrimination along ethnic lines

contributes to the empowerment of racist right-wing politics across Europe.31

Difficulties in achievement of equal treatment for the unprivileged groups in

the society depend not only on the priorities of the governments, but also on

the economic efforts. The ethical and political agenda of the organisations has

to compete with the interests of the rest of the population, sharing scarce

resources. The agenda of Roma politics is being created using the knowledge of

the needs, goals and capacities of the group. The Roma are not politically

united inside their living states because they do not share the same language,

culture, religion, identity, history or ethnicity.32 They need support from

people outside the community in order to be able to change their marginalized

position as well as combating the picture of being an unwanted minority for

their hosting societies. A top-down Roma representation helps the state and

the institutions to cooperate, legitimizes the debate about Roma people’s rights

and improves the political awareness among the Roma themselves. The

29 Veikou, M. & Triandafyllidou, A., 2004 “Immigration policy and its implementation in Italy” p.20. 30 Kovats, M, 2003 “The politics of Roma Identity, Between nationalism and destitution” p.2. 31 Kovats, M, 2003 “The politics of Roma Identity, Between nationalism and destitution” p.1. 32Kovats, M, 2003 “The politics of Roma Identity, Between nationalism and destitution” p.4.

16

Council of Europe has recognized a European Roma Forum working as a top-

down organisation in order to represent the Roma people in the European

institutions. Kovats (2003) describes the top-down representation also as a

risk of restraining the progress of a democratic Roma politics by not making

people feeling part of the process. Grassroots organisations fighting for the

rights of the Roma can use this forum in order to gain political power. They

play an important role and impact on their situation. Their objective is to

achieve a condition of equal treatment of the Roma by stabilizing the reliability

of front persons representing the Roma community in the politics and also by

getting attention from the society in order to get support. 33 Working for Roma

peoples rights means not only lobbying towards the public authorities and

institutions, but also educating the Roma communities.

4. Legal framework for regularisations in Italy

In order to understand better the situation of the Roma people on the Italian

territory, a picture of Italy´s immigration laws will be given. Terms used in

Italy when referring to immigrants are “stranieri” foreigners, “immigranti”

immigrants and “extracommunitari” extra communitarian citizens (from

outside the EU). Italy introduced the first immigration law already in 1986

having the aim to regulate illegal migration. The Law Martelli34 n. 39 of 28th of

February 1990 subjects regulated asylum-seekers, extra-communitarian

immigrants that want to enter and stay in the country and extra-

communitarian and stateless persons already living on the territory of the

State, regulating the presence of 216,037 foreign citizens.35 The measures

taken consist of the annual planning of migratory flows, seasonal employment

of immigrant workers and confirm the equal treatment between foreigners and

Italian citizens.36

33Kovats, M, 2003 “The politics of Roma Identity, Between nationalism and destitution” p.3. 34 named after the Vice-President of the Cabinet. 35 Basili, M., “La politica Migratoria: la legge Martelli” Presentation 26/3-09. 36 http://www.giustizia.it/cassazione/leggi/l39_90.html.

17

In order to obtain the Italian citizenship the regular stay within the country

borders for a period of ten years is required. The citizenship law from 1992 is

based on jus sanguinis, meaning that the child born on the Italian territory has

to have an Italian mother or father in order to automatically become an Italian

citizen. Italy is one of three countries in the European Union having the jus

sanguinis law. The children of the immigrants, even if they are born, raised

and educated in Italy, have to apply for the citizenship at the age of 18. This

represents a jus soli aspect set up in the same jus sanguinis law. 37 The most

common way to obtain Italian citizenship is by marriage, the so called iuo

connubi.

The third immigration law issued is Turco-Napolitano 40/9838, also identified

as the “Unique text of legal dispositions concerning immigration and norms

regarding the condition of foreigners” was created in order to regulate the

privileges and responsibilities of the non-Italian citizens.39 Law 40/98 contains

49 articles in three important areas: security, full integrity and integrity for the

irregular migrants and recognizes the immigrants and their right to residence

and work, as well as family reunion and social integration. At that time, the

irregular presence in Italy was between 235.000 and 295.000 regarding to the

Italian Ministry of Internal Affairs. In October 1999 when the law was put into

force, strict controls, in order to solve the situation of emergency created by the

irregular migration, were inserted into the law. A quota for new migration was

set established by the president of the Council of Ministers and the Parliament,

depending on the request of the labour market. 40 Law 40/98 permits the

expulsion of irregular immigrants equalized with criminal behaviour and

introduces the Centres of identification.

The next normative after the Turco-Napolitano law is the “Bossi-Fini” law

189/2002 which amends the immigration law 40/98 and introduces new

clauses.41 It consists of norms concerning immigration and asylum in Italy, a

longer period of stay in the centres of identification and re-enforces the border

37 Marzziti, M and Riccardi, A, 2004 ”Eurafrica” p. 85-86. 38 instituted by the government of Romano Prodi. 39 http://www.camera.it/parlam/leggi/98040l.htm. 40 Law Turco Napolitano 40/98 art. 3. 41 http://www.camera.it/parlam/leggi/02189l.htm.

18

controls.42 Taking fingerprints from the immigrants wanting to obtain or

renew their residence permit has been inserted as an obligation.43

In the interview with Roberto Malini, responsible for the work for Roma

people within the Everyone group, he explains that the laws in Italy, instead of

being enforced, are being exploited in order to expel, deport and discourage

migrants and Roma people from their stay on the Italian territory. The

judiciary abuse against Roma is used every day. Examples of this type are the

hundreds of children taken away from their Roma parents because of their

poverty condition and the crimes assigned to the Roma on the base of ethnical

prejudices.

5. Roma people

This part will set the Roma people into the Italian context presenting their

living conditions in the Settlements and their depiction in the Italian media.

Terms used in Italy to refer to Roma people are “Nomadi” Nomads, “Romi”

Roma and “Zingari” Gypsies. Roma people migrated from the North-Central

India via the Upper-Indus Valley, Persia, the Caucuses, Armenia, Byzantium,

Greece, the Kingdom of Serbia and what is now Romania to Eastern Europe. In

the 15th century, after reaching Romania, they divided into small groups, each

one having a different leader and then moved to the European countries.44 The

media in West Europe is presenting the Roma people as a homogeneous group,

using the word “rom” when referring to them, but there are different kinds of

Roma people. 45 In Romania for example there are 23 different groups,

traditionally divided by professions: musicians, coppersmiths, brick makers,

working in construction, woodworkers etc.46 Each group is divided in altered

smaller groups on the basis of on their history and geographic provenience.

According to The Romanian National Institute of Statistics, the Roma

community in Romania is of 535.140 people, 2.5% of the entire population

42 Roggero, G., 2009, “Policy Analysis Report – Italy” p.6. 43 Roggero, G., “Policy Analysis Report – Italy” p.6. 44 Lee, R., 2007 ”The Roma: Origins and Diaspora”. 45 Caritas Italiana, 2008, “Romania, Immigrazioni e lavoro in Italia”. p.53 46 Caritas Italiana, 2008, “Romania, Immigrazioni e lavoro in Italia”. p.54

19

(2002). Unofficial data is measuring numbers from 1.5 to 2 millions, an

equivalent of 8-9% of the entire population of Romania. From the 1990´s until

today Roma people have emigrated from Romania to Italy. They have settled

down on the Italian territory, and large part of them they live in so called

“campi nomadi”, nomad camps. To be able to create an accurate picture of the

Roma people situation in Italy, a study done by “Caritas Italiana” will be

presented. The presence of the Roma people in Italy is calculated to a number

between 120.000 and 150.000, among these 90.000 children and 70.000

Roma people with Italian citizenship.47 Roma people live mainly outside big

cities like Rome, Milan, Turin and Naples.

5.1 Roma people in the Italian media

The Romanian citizen Romulus Nicolae Mailat, has been condemned to 29

years in jail for the murder of Giovanna Reggiani in September 2007 in Rome.

Il Corriere della sera, one of the Italian daily newspapers, published on 29th

October 2008 the headline: “The Reggiani crime: Mailat asks for forgiveness

but it is not enough, condemned to 29 years”. Mailat declares that he had just

stolen the bag from Mrs. Reggiani. “I have not done anything else, I have not

killed her. I hope that justice has been done. I feel guilty for what I have done

and I ask for forgiveness to Mr. President, the court and all the people present

in the courtroom.” In this same article, the Mayor of Rome, Gianni Alemanno

expresses himself pleased about the measures taken in order to tranquillize the

upset Romans (citizens of Rome). “How is it possible that a person guilty of

such a serious crime does not get a life sentence?”, articulates Alemanno.

The same day, the headline in the other daily newspaper, La Repubblica was

“Murder Reggiani, condemned is Mailat a young Romanian, to 29 years in

jail”. This article mentions facts about Mailat´s family, the death of his sister

and his brother and the mother declaring that she still believes her son is

innocent. The words of the victim's husband, an admiral, are “I have no

comments on the sentence but I am satisfied that the truth has been proved”.

The case of Romulus Nicolae Mailat, was the starting point of a growing hate

against the entire group of Roma people. He was accused on the base of

testimony from a lady affected by serious psychic troubles, declares Roberto

47 Caritas/Migrantes, Immigrazione Dosier Statistico 2006.

20

Malini from Everyonegroup. The DNA exams of his blood, found under the

nails of the victim (according to the investigators) and the blood of the victim,

found on his face (accoding to the authorities) vanished in an enigmatic way.

During the trial, it was confirmed that the blood analyzes were

incomprehensible because the blood had been thinned by the rain. But the

DNA remains even if the blood is diluted (from 1 up to 1 milion),, explains

Malini.48

The case of Angelica a 16 year old girl accused for stealing a baby from a

mother in a district of Naples, Ponticelli. In May 2009, one year after the

report of the case on 10th of May 2008, Angelica was condemned to 3 years

and 8 months of imprisonment. In La Repubblica, an article published on 8th

of May 2009, the words of the pg Alessandro Piccirillo are published “Romania

has entered the European Community, therefore it has to equalize to the

parameters of the Union and integrate with our culture and our laws. The

kidnapping of a newborn baby does not belong to our culture”. 49 Angelica

declares that she entered the building where the newborn child lives in order to

get clothes and food from a lady that set up a meeting with her. This is an

example of condemnation of an innocent person, who is arrested on

contradictory testimony from the accusing persons, despite the proofs that

exclude her guilt, confirms Roberto Malini.50 On 14th of May 2008, Il Corriere

della sera publishes the article “Naples, rod and Molotov against the nomads”

where 300-400 persons from the district of Ponticelli attack the Roma

settlements and a fight between the Italian and the Romanian citizens breaks

out. The clash was stopped by the police, but Roma people are now afraid of

walking on the streets of Naples. Roma people of Romanian citizenship had to

leave the camps and were deported by police forces.51

Regarding Malini, the public opinion is strongly influenced by racist

propaganda expressed under the last two years in almost all the media:

newspapers, television, radio and internet sites. Movements inspired of

48 Interview with Roberto Malini 2009-05-17. 49 “Delitto Reggiani: Mailat chiede perdono ma non basta, condanna a 29 anni" Corriere della Sera, 2009-05-08. 50 Interview with Roberto Malini 2009-05-17. 51 “Napoli, spranghe e Molotov contro I nomadi” Corriere della Sera 2008-05-14.

21

intolerant ideologies are acting hostile in confront with ethnical minorities and

migrants as the Northern League (Lega Nord), The New Force (Forza Nuova)

and neofacist and neonazistic groups, parts of the PDL52, the Liberal party lead

by the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. They have contributed to the

creation of the phobia towards the unwelcome races – first of all the Roma.

5.2 In the settlements of Rome

The number of the communities present in Rome is between 10.000 and

15.000, living in 26 different camps of which 13 are authorized. 53 A majority of

them are Romanian citizens but there are also citizens from Serbia, Bosnia,

Montenegro, Macedonia, Croatia and Italian Sinties living in the camps. Large

part of them does not have a resident permit.54 The habitants in the camps

prefer to be called Roma, they consider the word gypsy as depreciatory and

often used within their group as an offence. Especially in the larger camps

there are people with different provenience and also non nomad people. In the

camp Il River live only Romanian citizens of Roma ethnicity and there are also

camps with only Bosnians, Montenegrins, for example Casilino 900. There are

also mixed camps, like for example La Cesarina, but this is not common

because they tend to separate in different groups depending on the

provenience. The Romanian Roma person feels Romanian but he underlines

the fact that he is also a nomad. 55

The Prefecture of Rome in agreement with the Municipality of Rome issues the

regulations valid for the authorized and semi-authorized nomad camps. Seven

authorized camps are situated in Rome of whom four of them have Romanian

citizens as habitants; other populations are Bosnians and Serbians.56 The

residences are made of brick and composed of identical rooms with sufficient

sanitary conditions having access to services as light, water and bad rooms.

Video cameras are installed at the entry of some authorized camp offering a

fundamental protection (passive protection) similar with the cameras set up in

52 Popolo delle Libertà 53 Cappato, M & Mohacsi, V, 2008 “Situation of Roma in Italy”. 54 Ricordy, A. 2008, "Rom e sinti, Mappatura degli interventi delle Caritas Diocesane". 55 Interview with Province delegate for the Italian Red Cross 2009-05-14. 56 Document from Lieutenant Colonel “The towns of solidarity” (authorized settlements).

22

banks, postal offices and private residences. Another category is the semi-

authorized camps, so called “tolerate” camps by the ordinance 80/96. There

are in total fifteen semi-authorized camps in Rome and the municipalities offer

some services like electricity, water and toilets inside these. Romanian citizens

can be found in two of them, other nationalities are Serbians, Croatians,

Bosnians, Macedonians, Montenegrins and Italian Sinti. The third types of

camps are the illegal ones, characterized by irregular residence of the nomads.

Many of the irregular settlements situated in Rome are being destroyed,

conforming to the Italian law directives, but re-appear later. The settlements

are generally situated between the vegetation and the areas long the river

Tiber, on private proprieties or on the territories belonging to the municipality,

for example the coast. The housing is composed by huts/shelters with no

access to services and is categorized as having uncertain sanitary conditions,

with a high risk for the children living there. The Lieutenant Colonel

underlines that the Italian law prohibits the illegal building and also the

environment violation done by the nomads throwing their trash in the rivers.

Complain letters have been received from the citizens living close to the

irregular camps regarding the negative of impact of the nomads on public

order and security. The housing emergence in Rome is unfortunately one of the

most serious problems and even if regular housing is offered, “many of the

nomads want to stay in the camp”57. For access to public housing it is

necessary to sign up on a cue list where persons having a stabile residence,

family and a work-place are the first priority. Some municipalities offer the

Roma people regular places for living, but the national administration is still

regarding "the resting area" as the best solution. Italy is the only country in the

EU using the solution of camps. The country has received recommendations

and criticism from several institutions, for example the European Commission

asking to change its politics.

The Red Cross is an example of civil action takers giving assistance to the

Roma people living in the settlement, working in cooperation with the

municipality of Rome, the province and the prefecture. The role of the Red

Cross is support the most sensible categories, the mothers with small and sick

57 Interview with Lieutenant Colonel, , 2009-05-13.

23

children, intervene with a direct sanitary help, inform them about hygiene,

give them food and guide the people to the access of hospital treatment. The

medical visits at a hospital are not forbidden by law for the persons living in

the camps, but in order to face the situation of lack of information, the Red

Cross organises visits together with doctors and nurses inside the camps.

According to the interview with the Province delegate of the Italian Red Cross,

the principal negative factors for the persons living in the camps are: the lack

of good hygiene conditions, connected to the absence of a water source,

accumulation of trash close to the settlements and precarious housing not

adapted to the cold. Children do not attend the education systems, they are not

vaccinated and improperly nitrated and the infant mortality is fifteen times as

high as among other people. Adults do not have a place where to work and are

not integrated in the rest of the society. The life expectance of a Roma person is

35 years.

6. Security solutions

The Italian government has continuously worked in order to find new

instruments and solve the emergence situation, in their point of view, created

by the immigrants. In the section above, the Italian security package and its set

into practice will be illustrated, followed by the security measures taken within

the European Union.

6.1 The Italian Security-package

In October 2007 the Italian government led by Romano Prodi put in force a

directive giving the police the right to expulse European citizens, Decree nr.

181/2007, in order to maintain the security in the country.58 Security measures

have been put in force in 14 Italian cities in order to send out the Roma people

from the urban areas.59 The security-package, put in force by the Law

125/2008 in Italy was made to combat the spreading illegality co-legated with

58 Finotelli, C, & Sciortino, G., 2008 "New Trends in Italian Immigration Policies". 59 Ricordy, A. 2008, "Rom e sinti, Mappatura degli interventi delle Caritas Diocesane".

24

the illegal immigration and organized criminality.60 The president of the

Italian Council of Ministers enforced special commissioners called prefects to

represent the government on the local level with the mission of solving “the

extremely critical situation generated by the presence of numerous irregular

and nomad foreigners who are permanently installed in the urban areas”.61

The prefects have the power to authorize the camps, carry out people living in

the camps and identify them.62 In order to regulate the presence of the

Romanian Roma a legislative decree has been added to the free movement of

EU citizen 2004/38/CE, giving the permit to expel unregistered EU citizens

towards their Member States. 63 This has a negative impact on the Roma

people, 80% of them being irregulars and also a large part of them being

stateless.64 The persons living in the camps have been expulsed by the

municipality administrations, without giving them an alternative place to live.

An example of expulsion of the Roma people and the closure of a non

authorized camp is the governmental ordinance65 from May 2008 that took

place in three regions of Italy, among this Latium.66

6.2 Implementation actors and practices

With the decision taken by the Ministers of Interior and Defence on the 29th of

July 2008, Art. 7 of the Security Package gave the right to 3000 soldiers to

control the Italian territory together with the police. The aim was to prevent

and to enable criminality letting the forces use arms “in areas requiring an

increasing level of control”. 67 The Italian police force has the right to confiscate

the propriety of illegal residents and use the money in the area of combating

the problems created by illegal migration. The same legislation allows the

incarcerate of persons who rent an accommodation to a foreign citizen illegally

residing in the Italian territory, giving a sentence ranging from 6 months to 3

year’s.68 The “Centres of identification and expulsion”69 adapted to identify

60 "Contrastare fenomeni d´illegalità diffusa collegati all’immigrazione illegale e alla criminalità organizzata". 61 Merlino, M., 2009 “The Italian (In)Security Package” p.13. 62 Art.1 Ordinanza del Presidente del Consiglio dei Ministri, 30 maggio 2008, no. 3676, Lazio. 63 Finotelli, C. & Sciortino, G, 2008 "New Trends in Italian Immigration Policies”. 64 Cappato, M. & Mohacsi, V., 2008, “Situation of Roma in Italy”. 65 nr. 3676 of 30/5/2008. 66 Finotelli, C. and Sciortino, G., 2008 "New Trends in Italian Immigration Policies”. 67 Merlino, M., 2009 “The Italian (In)Security Package” p.8. 68 Finotelli, C. & Sciortino, G, 2008 "New Trends in Italian Immigration Policies”.

25

illegal immigrants and send them to their provenience country. In case of not

being able to identify the immigrant within 60 days, the immigrant is obligated

to leave the Country within five days. . If the expulsed person does not leave

Italy within five days, he/she is arrested for a duration which can last from six

months to a year. Asylum seekers that have received an expulsion order will

have to stay at the centres for a period up to 18 months. 70

The Red Cross has also the duty to gather data in order to identify the settlers

coordinated by the Prefecture of Rome in the summer of 2008. The data

protection law, Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the

Council, “on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of

personal data and on the free movement of such data”71 is applied underlining

that it is not allowed to gather information about racial or ethnic origin. If the

Red Cross workers are asked to, they have to send the information gathered to

the Italian police and the Italian judges, in order to create a map of the Roma

people situated in Italy. The police force was responsible for the administrative

part and in this case only the nomads giving their agreement were registered

into the data base. A large part of them did not give their consensus, leading to

an incomplete final result of for the data record.

The interview done with the Lieutenant Colonel confirms that the measures of

control need to be increased and followed up in order to verify the status of the

camp, the number of persons living there, the number of minors and the

present sanitary conditions. The control procedure is done by the police forces

that enter the camps early in the morning, with the scope of identifying the

highest number possible of persons living in the camp. During the day, the

persons living in the camps are outside begging, working and committing

illegal actions, regarding the Lieutenant Colonel. Persons without documents

are being identified regarding the procedure regulated by the actual legislative

norms. The data required for the identity control is the full name and surname,

the place and the date of birth. Information regarding the ethnicity is

necessary in cases where the person is settled in an illegal camp and has to be

69 "Centro d´identificazione ed espulsione”. 70 Finotelli, C. & Sciortino, G, 2008 "New Trends in Italian Immigration Policies”. p.10. 71 http://www.cdt.org/privacy/eudirective/EU_Directive_.html.

26

transferred to a regular one because it is important that this being is placed in

a community sharing the same ethnicity. Non-communitarian and irregular

individuals without a residence permit are being send to the Office of

Immigration72 (adherent to the police station) in order to continue the

administrative part of their expulsion. In April 2009, in collaboration with the

force of order, a new identification procedure has been effectuated in the seven

authorized camps in order to give all the inhabitants an identification

document entitled DAST73 - authorized document of temporary standing –

allowing the nomads to stay in the camps.

As in all communities there are dangerous and violent persons in the camps.

Irregular camps are a mix of criminals “of the worst pedigree” as well as

innocent, hard working individuals. Arms and drugs are easily hidden inside

the camps and in many cases this situation has been verified by the police

investigations. Persons considered socially dangerous conform to the

regulation of the Law nr. 1423 from 1956, art.1 are the ones involved in

trafficking, making a living from criminal activities as well as people putting to

harms way the physic or moral integrity of minors as well as the health, the

security and the public order in the society. “The living conditions of the

nomad communities influence on their chance to commit crimes” 74, making

them as a consequence dangerous for the society. Two examples are Caislino

900, an irregular camp, and La Martora, a semi-authorized camp, both

situated in Rome, hosting persons with a high criminal rate. The situation is

much better in the authorized camps. A map giving a picture of all the location

of the nomad camps was created in order to be able to analyze the criminal

phenomena acts in the city and evaluate their occurrence.

6.3 Security measures in the European Union

The gathering of data in the European Union is done using different systems

and databases collecting data on DNA results, passport information and

72 Ufficio Immigrazione della Questura. 73 “documento autorizzativo di stazionamento temporaneo”. 74 Interview with Lieutenant Colonel, 2009-05-13.

27

criminal records. The data is later exchanged between different authorities

across the borders of the Members States.75

Regarding the European Council Treaty, the only justifications valid to stop the

free movement of citizens by driving out persons from the countries territory

are: public health, policy and security.76

7. Fighting discrimination towards Roma in Italy

This final part offer a closer look at the measures taken in order to combat the

discrimination towards the Roma people existing in the Italian society, starting

from the description of the Racial Equality Directive and continuing with its

implementation into Italian law.

7.1 The Racial Equality Directive 2000/43/EC

The Racial Equality Directive 2000/43/EC (RED) adopted by the European

Council in June 2000 introduced the principle of equal treatment between

persons irrespective of racial or ethnic origin.77 It contains of 19 articles and

prohibits direct or indirect discrimination of any group or person based on

racial or ethnical origin.78 The first step is the establishment of an Equality

Body including Ombudsmen, Labour Inspectorates and Commissions with the

capability to analyze the discrimination problems and find possible solutions.

The RED permits organisations legitimized by the Member States to support

the needs of discriminated persons, even in court. MS have the responsibility

to encourage the channel of communication between non-governmental

organisations and social partners. Statistics show that the Roma people have

been the group represented in highest amount of complaints. Just in Italy, 282

75 Guild, E., Carrera, S. and Balzacq, T., 2008, “The changing dynamics of security in an enlarged EU” p.4. 76 exception controlled by the European Court of Justice 77 Council Directive 2000/43/EC Of June 2000. Origin http://web20.s112.typo3server.com/fileadmin/pdfs/Reports/Directives/2000-43_en.pdf, Visited 2009-04-27, 12.00 78 EUR-Lex, Council Directive 2000/43/EC.

28

cases of ethnic discrimination have been reported, compared with 157 in

Belgium and 119 in the United Kingdom.

7.2 The practices of and obstacles to the implementation of

the Racial Equality Directive

The implementation of the RED in the Member States is supervised by the

European Council. After the implementation of the directive into the national

laws, the MS are obligated to give a report to the European Commission.79 If

the report does not arrive to the Commission within the stabilized deadline,

the MS are obliged to begin a so called breaching procedure. The procedure is

done using one of these two instruments: the “Non-communication procedure”

with the right of motivating the reasons of not handing in the report of the

national implementation to the European Commission within two months.

Secondly, the “Non Conformity” procedure where the MS receives an

announcement regarding the necessary measures that have not been taken

regarding the directive. The state will be given a reasonable time to put the

legislation in conformity. Member States not respecting the directive should

get sanctions.

The transposition deadline for the implementation of the Racial Equality Directive

into the Italian law, as for the other Member States was on 19th of July 2003.80For

the implementation of the RED, Italy inserted a decree into the national law

separate from the other anti-discrimination laws. The “Etno Segregation” has

been established cooperating with the labour union in order to make immigrants

participate on the labour market. Discrimination on the base of nationality is not

included, the Equality Body has not been created independently and the

responsibility of the state communicating with social partners and NGO has not

been added to the Italian Decree.81 On paper the Italian Government is working

with the implementation of The Racial Equality directive, making political

statements to give the picture that they work against racism and xenophobia. But

79 The Racial Equality Directive Art. 17. 80 http://www.equal4all.org/defaultpage121c0.aspx?pageID=1196. 81 Simoni, A., 2003, “Executive Summary on Race Equality directive”.

29

regarding Malini, the Italian government acts in a similar way as in the time of

harassment against the Jews, trying to avoid international inspections and when

they do take place, it tries to mask the stark reality. The government invests

millions of euro in order to eliminate the Roma, taking actions in order to stop the

immigration, reject refugees and create an inhuman and downgrading situation

for persons waiting for expulsion orders. “The European Union and the United

Nations have to work in order to avoid that the virus of Italian racism bewitches

the continent”. 82

The Province delegate from the Red Cross explains that in her opinion, the

anti-discrimination work should be done in two ways – working with the Roma

by learning them the rules of the society where they live and make them

understand that the second generation has to integrate in the society by

attending education and social services. On the other hand working towards

the institutions in order to facilitate the integration of the youth Roma and

push for the instruments needed in order to achieve a change, rather than the

once identifying the Roma with their provenience group.

A positive element, thanks to the cultural work and the campaigns of the

Everyone group – is the renaissance of an antiracist and tolerating culture

bolstered by political pressure, activism and intellectuals. If nine parents out of

ten for two years ago alerted their children of the “gypsy danger”, today, large

part of those parents start to educate their children explaining that racism and

intolerance should be combated, declares Malini. “The work within an

organisation is about staying involved, because the seeds of change reach the

politics, the media, the culture and the education area and allow a welcoming

culture of equality to develop”83. Regarding Roberto Malini, it is difficult to

fight for the anti-discrimination of the Roma, because the intolerance towards

them has antique roots and medieval prejudices that tend to reassert when the

society feels threaten. Persons on high governmental positions use the most

vulnerable minorities and blame them in order to justify crises and failures or

to maintain their position of power. The activism has to deal with insults and

82 Interview with Roberto Malini, 2009-05-17. 83 Interview with Roberto Malini, 2009-05-17.

30

propaganda directed in order to create a social alarm, trying to prove them

false. When a minority is pursued it dislocates itself and becomes a victim of

abuse unable to defend itself, explains Malini. It is fundamental that the

activism keeps the contact with the families and the communities, recognizing

and protecting them in order to make them feel able to represent their own

population. Finally, to obtain these results, Malini articulates that you need

knowledge, courage and consistency.

8. Conclusion and discussion

Instead of asking for universal solutions, Italy has found its own way to outline

the migration policies and laws. The Italian migration laws are shaped in so

way that they control and sort out unwanted migrants, maintaining the strong

role of the national state. It is rather obvious that the legislative solutions

formed by the Italian government are short-term in order to resolve a so called

emergency situation created by the immigration instead of looking at

sustainable long-term solutions when dealing with immigration. The

characteristics of the Italian administration pointed out by Veikou and

Triandafyllidou in the theoretical part can be noticed in the implementation of

the Racial Equality Directive and its conflict with the Security Package where

decision taking on local level clashes with the European directive (RED). The

Italian immigration Laws are not adjusted to the situation required by the

needs of Roma people in order to have the possibility to integrate in the Italian

society. Reducing the freedom of Roma people by introducing security

measures is a prove of political outbreaks caused by the illegal acts committed

by Romulus Nicolae Mailat and Angelica.

As an alternative of searching itself to common protection solutions, Italy is

taking help of the own police force and military defence in order to protect its

territory from the immigrants and their actions. A decentralization of decisions

from national to local level regarding expulsion of irregular migrants and the

power to close down regularized and semi-regularized settlements creates a

problem regarding the control and the follow up of the migration policy from a

national and European level. The security control of Roma people is made

31

through the Italian laws and measures introducing the Security Package. The

presence of Romanian Roma is regulated by the legislative decree added to the

free movement of citizens in order to expel the unregistered part of them, even

if they are citizens of the European Union.

A conflict situation between the Italian Security Package and the data

protection law of the European Union is created when the Security Package

permits measures that go outside the frames allowed by the European

Directive. Security should not be the instrument used in order to prevent a so

called emergency situation before it really occurs. As mentioned in the

theoretical part, security is aimed to protect the individual. Creating a so called

"state of fear" as the procedures regulated by the Italian Security Package, is

causing an insecurity situation for the individuals, in this case the Roma

people. The picture given by the Lieutenant Colonel is that the Security

measures taken by the Italian government are necessary in order to be in

control of the “Nomad settlements”. The Italian government seems to have

misunderstood this concept of security, implementing security measures in

order to scare away the Roma people before they even get a threat for the rest

of the society.

Placing the Roma people in settlements outside the city centres is from the

start a method of segregation and protection of the society towards the Roma.

Finding solutions for the placement the Roma people is of course not a simple

task, but Italy should reflect on why they are the only country in the European

Union authorizing settlements instead of finding proper housing. A question to

put in this case is if the set in settlements is a result of scarce resources within

the country or a result of hostility from the entire Italian society? Will the

integration of Roma people by offering social housing inside the urban areas be

a reality in the future?

Formally, the Racial Equality Directive is an example of perspective

Europeanisation, indicating the measures that the Member State has to take,

with the implementation deadline in July 2003, but not giving the instruments

32

in order to achieve these goals. From the facts presented in the thesis, the

Racial Equality Directive results to be an example of discursive

Europeanisation, giving certain directives to the MS and free space to the

implementation into the laws and policies. The implementation in Italy has not

achieved all the goals set up by the directive in order to combat discrimination

based on racial or ethnic origin. The directives setting into the Italian law have

rather been an interpretation of the orders given by the RED. The Italian

legislation takes sidesteps as gathering data information regarding ethnic

origin and taking the fingerprints of immigrants applying for a residence

permit including Roma people. Using this, we can conclude that the Italy has

not reached the third step in the process of Europeanisation, adjusting their

internal immigration laws and policies to the European stage of progress.

Taking a closer look at the different stages of change of the national policies

and politics, the Italian immigration laws and policies remark on the Racial

Equality Directive, presenting incomplete policy changes. The Retrenchment

phase is achieved by the set of a migration quota depending on the labour

market requirement through Law Turco Napolitano 40/98.

The border set up by prejudices in confront with the Roma people and the rest

of the society must be opened using top down instruments coming from the

European Union in order to regulate the unacceptable behaviour of the Italian

immigration policy and law setting. There is of course important to remember

that the responsibility is always on both parts of the relation between adapted

laws and policies and the strength of character of the people expected to

integrate in the hosting society. But since every nationality, ethnic or racial

origin group has its way of living the society should give them the possibility to

do so, of course not only giving them rights but also obligations. As mentioned

by Kovats, a policy making based on ethnic differences creates social tensions

between the Roma people considered a minority group and the rest of the

society. This is valid for the Italian case, where the social disintegration of

Roma people has empowered right-wing groups as for example Forza Nuova.

Unmentioned earlier in the thesis is that an inquiry has been delivered to them

as well by electronic post, without receiving any type of reply. The two

examples of two so called “Roma-crimes” illustrated in the Italian daily

newspapers show that the focus has been set on the ethnic origin of Romulus

33

Nicolae Mailat and Angelica. It is rather clear that these two individuals did

not have a fair chance to face the confrontation from the politicians, the

judicial system and the public opinion, being from the start in a position

considered lower. Right-wing groups gain power from the picture offered by

the Italian media, convincing the society of which is the right part to take in

confront of the Roma people. The public opinion is influenced by the

numerous political statements televised and published in the Italian media

slanted in a negative way towards the Roma people.

The role of non-profit organisations giving the Roma-people first-aid,

education in order to stand up for their rights, health and living assistance is

fundamental in order to protect the vulnerable group living within a state that

does not protect them with its legislation. Caritas Italiana, the Red Cross and

the Everyone group are three examples mentioned in the thesis. Caritas

Italiana has supports the life conditions of the Roma people and criticizes the

way the police forces treat the Roma people. By publishing reports they offer

the Italian citizens the possibility to inform themselves about real facts and not

only listen to the picture given by the media. The Red Cross helps the Roma

people to face the every day life problems and actions also in a constructive

way by educating Roma people in order to help them integrate. Everyone

group is acting on a political level using the top-down help from the European

Union in order to have a more significant voice towards the Italian government

and its institutions. Their role is fundamental in order to support the Roma

people that tend to be united because of their cultural, identity-based and

historical differences. As Kovats describes the consequences of a top-down

representation, it is important to not forget that Roma people should also be

encouraged to fight for their own rights in the Italian society.

The distinction between Roma people as an ethnic group and their national

origin, having in the cases enlighten by the Italian media a Romanian

citizenship, show tendencies of accusing the entire Romanian population,

making them thief’s and murders not able to adapt to the laws set by the

European Union. The reason of choosing the title "Rome, Romanian, Roma"

was to come to the pivot of the Italian immigration policy and law-making, that

34

as shown through the thesis, have been elaborate particularly to reach the

Roma people in order to have them under supervision and control.

Why? Can it be the fact that Italy as a country wants to hide other more serious

problems as internal administrative complications, irregular migration in

order to keep the low cost workers that contribute to a growth in the Italian

economy and the relief of giving the guilt on the Roma people in order to

justify and excuse political problems?

Finally, as an answer to the central research question the conclusion that the

Italian laws and policies do not completely follow the Racial Equality Directive,

the European Directive of Free movement of citizens and the Data protection

law can be taken. Moreover, the Italian Security Package, the regulation of the

settlements made on a local level, and last but not least, the criminalisation of

Roma people in the Italian media are the main obstacles in the process of

integration of the Roma people within the Italian society.

35

9. References

Accurate and Reliable English dictionary online

(http://ardictionary.com/Gypsy/5249), Visited on 2009-05-19.

Amnesty International, 2009, ”Forced eviction” EUR 30/002/2009, Italy,

About 150 Roma people

(http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/EUR30/002/2009/en/51472d15-

896d-4aa0-8aec-ba0357cddfe9/eur300022009en.pdf) 2009-03-15.

Anghel, Remus Gabriel, 2008, “Changing Statuses: Freedom of Movement,

Locality and Transnationality of Irregular Romanian Migrants in Milan”

Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Vol. 34, No. 5, July 2008 pp. 787-

802.

Antiseri, Dario, 1996: Trattato di metodologia delle scienze Sociali, UTET

Libreria, Torino.

Basili, Marzia, “La politica Migratoria: la legge Martelli”, Lecture 2009-03-26,

(http://docenti.luiss.it/analisi-settembri/analisi-delle-politiche-pubbliche/materiali).

Cagol, Marco, 1995: Un popolo sconosciutto, gli zingari, Associazione per i

popoli minacciati, Sudtirolo.

Cappato, Marco & Mohacsi, Viktoria, 2008, “Situation of Roma in Italy” and

Report of the Visits and meetings in Rome, 2008-07-17.

Cingolini, Pietro, “The Romanians in Italy, Transnational Communities in a

Globalized World” Italian research team FIERI, Forum Internazionale ed

Europeo di Ricerche sull´immigrazione.

“Delitto Reggiani: Mailat chiede perdono ma non basta, condanna a 29 anni”,

Corriere della Sera,

36

(http://www.corriere.it/cronache/08_ottobre_29/mailat_chiede_perdono_6

044c65a-a5b5-11dd-8fd0-00144f02aabc.shtml), 2009-10-29, Visited 2009-05-

23.

Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24

October 1995 (http://www.cdt.org/privacy/eudirective/EU_Directive_.html)

Visited 2009-03-04.

“Napoli, spranghe e Molotov contro I nomadi”, Corriere della sera,

(http://archiviostorico.corriere.it/2008/maggio/14/Napoli_spranghe_moloto

v_contro_nomadi_co_9_080514042.shtml) 2008-05-14, Visited 2009-05-23.

Council Directive 2000/43/EC Of June 2000 implementing the principle of

equal treatment between persons irrespective of racial or ethnic Origin

(http://web20.s112.typo3server.com/fileadmin/pdfs/Reports/Directives/200

0-43_en.pdf), Office Journal of the European Communities, Visited 2009-04-

27.

European Union Agency for fundamental rights, 2009, “The Roma” Data in

Focus report, European Union Minorities and Discrimination Survey,

(http://www.euromanet.eu/newsroom/archive/eu_midis_roma_data_in_foc

us_report_has_been_presented_at_the_european_platform_for_roma_incl

usion.html).

Ette, Andreas, Faist, Thomas., 2007: The Europeanisation of national policies and politics of immigration: research, questions and concepts, Between Autonomy and the European Union, Palgrave Macmillan.

European Council, “Free movement of Workers to and from Bulgaria and Romania – How will it work in practice?” (http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/free_movement/docs/accession_2007_en.pdf), Visited 2009-04-20.

Everyone group, “The truth about the kindapping in Naples,

(http://www.everyonegroup.com/EveryOne/MainPage/Entries/2008/5/18_A

ntigypsy_sentiments_out_of_control_in_Italy._The_truth_about_the_kidna

pping_in_Naples.html), 2008-05-18, Visited 2009-04-21.

37

Favell, Adrian, 2008, “The New Face of East-West Migration in Europe”,

Journal of Ethnic and migration Studies Vol. 34 No. 5 July 2008, pp.701-706.

Finotelli, Claudia & Sciortino, Giuseppe, 2008 "New Trends in Italian

Immigration Policies: "To change everything in order to keep everything the

same" (ARI).

Giordano, Alfonso, Lectures, Population Movements and International

Relations

(http://docenti.luiss.it/geografia-giordano/movimenti-di-popolazione-e-

relazioni-internazionali/materiali-didattici), Visited 2009-04-15.

Guild, Elspeth, Carrera, Sergio & Balzacq, Thierry, 2008, “The changing

dynamics of security in an enlarged European Union”, Research Paper No. 12,

Octorber 2008, Changing Landscanpe of European Liberty and Security,

CEPS.

King, Rusell, 2002, “Towards a new map of European migration”,

International Journal of Population Geography, 8(2): 89-106.

Kovats, Martin, 2003 “The politics of Roma Identity, Between nationalism and

destitution” openDemocracy Ltd.

“Confermata la condanna per Angelica", La Repubblica, 2009-05-08,

(http://ricerca.repubblica.it/repubblica/archivio/repubblica/2009/05/08/co

nfermata-la-condanna-per-angelica.html) Visited 2009-05-09.

Del Porto, Dario, “Omicidio Reggiani, condannato Mailat al giovene romeno

29 anni di carcere”, La Repubblica, 2008-10-29.

Lee, Ronald ”The Roma: Origins and Diaspora” (http://rcctoronto.org),

Visited 2009-05-01.

38

Marazziti, Mario & Riccardi, Andrea, 2004: Eurafrica, Quello che non si dice

sull´immigrazione, Quello che si potrebbe dire sull´Europa, Leonardo

International, Milano, Italy.

Merlino, Massimo, 2009 “The Italian (In)Security Package, Security vs. Rule of

Law and Fundamental Right in the EU” Research Paper n. 14 March 2009-04-

30, Center for European Policy Studies.

Ministero della giustizia, The Law Martelli 39/1990

(http://www.giustizia.it/cassazione/leggi/l39_90.html) Visited 2009-03-04.

Paparella, Domenico & Rinolfi, Vilma, 2002 "New legislation regulates

immigration", European Industrial Relations observatory on-line

(http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/eiro/2002/09/feature/it0209103f.htm),

Visited 2009-04-15.

Paralamento Italiano, Law Turco Napolitano 40/98,

(http://www.camera.it/parlam/leggi/98040l.htm) Visited 2009-03-04.

Paralamento Italiano, Law Bossi Fini 189/2002,

(http://www.camera.it/parlam/leggi/02189l.htm)Visited 2009-03-04.

Pittau, Franco, Ricci, Antonio & Silj, Alessandro, 2008: Romania,

Immigrazioni e lavoro in Italia, Statistiche, problemi e prospettive, Caritas

Italiana, Edizioni IDOS.

Plotnik, Ana, 2008 ”Exploatarea muncitorilor imigranti in romania”, 2008-09-

26, Indymedia Romania.

The Racial Equality Directive,

(http://www.equal4all.org/defaultpage121c0.aspx?pageID=1196), Visited

2009-04-27.

Ricordy, Alice, 2008, "Rom e sinti, Mappatura degli interventi delle Caritas

Diocesane".

39

Roggero, Gigi, 2009“Policy Analysis Report – Italy”, Department of Politics, Institutions, History – University of Bologona, Grant Agreement no 216065.

Sacco, Giuseppe, 2007, “A farewell to Italy: Demography and Immigration”,

Geopolitical Affairs, Volume 1, Nr. 2, Summer 2007.

Sacco, Giuseppe, 1996: L´invasione scalza, Movimenti migratori e sicurezze

nazionale, Franco Angeli, Milano, Italy.

Simoni, Alessandro, 2003, Executive Summary on Race Equality directive,

State of play in Italy, 17 october 2003.

Teorell, Jan & Svensson, Torsten, 2007: Att fråga och att svara, Liber AB,

Malmö.

The European Commission, The European union and Roma,

(http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=518&langId=en), Visited 2009-

04-19

The free dictionary online, (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Gypsy) &

(http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Nomad), Visited 2009-05-19

The Italian National Institute of Statistics, ISTAT (2007; 2006; 2005; 2004;

2003; 2002) (http://demo.istat.it/str2007).

Veikou, Mariangela & Triandafyllidou, Anna, 2004

“Immigration policy and its implementation in Italy, a Report on the state of

art”, European University Institute.

9.1 Interviews

Interview with Province delegate for the Italian Red Cross in the Municipality

of Rome, 2009-05-14.

Interview with Roberto Malini responsible for the Roma people in Everyone

Group, a Non governmental organisation 2009-05-17.

40

Interview with Lieutenant Colonel responsible of the Security of the Roma and

Sinti people, 2009-05-16.

41

Appendix 1

Interview questions Questions addressed to the Red Cross and the Everyone group Personal experience

1. Did you work in the nomad settlements? How are the life conditions there? 2. Do the persons living there seem to be dangerous? Have you seen criminal

acts? 3. Have you seen a document control done by the police in the nomad camps? 4. In your opinion, how should the camps be controlled?

Media

1. Is the Italian Media objective in confront with the Roma people? 2. Why do they only show the negative part regarding to Roma?

The Roma people

1. Where do the Roma people come from? Are the majority from Romania? Do they prefer to be called Rom or Gypsies? Which language can you communicate with them in? How does the Italian society treat them? Can the people living in the nomad camps make a medical visit without having to worry?

2. Why do you think that the Romanian citizens have been accused of crimes in the Italian media, is this a true fact? Can you do a difference between the Romanian citizens and the Romanian citizens of Roma ethnicity? Politically

1. What is the response from the Italian govern to the protests done by the EveryOne group?

2. What is the response from the EU? Amnesty International? 3. Who are your enemies? What can you do in confront with extreme right-

winged groups? 4. If you would have the possibility to change the Italian laws, which part would

you change? (How would you change the Security Package into a fairer one?)

5. Is Italy a country opened to ethnical minorities? Do informative campaigns for the education of Italian citizens exist?

6. In your opinion, how will the situation look like in 5 years? And in 10?

42

Questions addressed to Colonel Cavallo:

1. Do you think that an increase of control will be necessary to confront the problem of the citizens living in the camps in/close to Rome?

2. How does the identification control procedure work like? Which kind of information do you need –nationality, ethnics, religion, age, family? Does the Red Cross help you in this process?

3. Why do video cameras exist at the entries of the camps? 4. Which is the difference between an authorized, a semi-authorized and an

illegal camp? 5. Would not it be better if the regular persons living in the camps could be

offered housing? 6. What are the statistics of criminality in these camps? Have you found drugs or

arms? 7. Are the persons living in the camps dangerous for the society? Are they

violent? 8. Can you visit the camps? 9. Which are the directives you have to follow? Who gives you this directives, the

Government, the Mayor or the Laws? 10. Why does a map of all the Roma and Sinti people living in the camps exist? 11. Why did the camps been destroyed? 12. Did the police or the military police use violence towards the habitants of the

camps? 13. Do you cooperate with some organisation? 14. What are the measures taken in confront of the right-wing groups as “The new

Force” (Forza Nuova) that is using violence towards the camps?