ERRC Letter to Italian Prime Minister

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From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Date: Sun, 12 Mar 2000 17:52:33 +0200 (EET)
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Subject: ERRC Letter to Italian Prime Minister

From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>

Original sender: European Roma Rights Center <[email protected]>

ERRC Letter to Italian Prime Minister


On March 7, 2000, the European Roma Rights Center (ERRC), an
international public interest law organisation which monitors the
rights of Roma and provides legal defence in cases of human rights
abuse, sent a letter to Italian Prime Minister Mr Massimo D'Alema to
express concern at group expulsions of Roma from Italy. The expulsions
took place following a series of allegedly abusive raids on March 3
and 4. In the letter, the ERRC urged Prime Minister D'Alema to provide
the public with an explanation as to the legal grounds for the action
and to condemn forthwith policies targeting Roma for group expulsion
from Italy. Additionally, the ERRC stated that the Italian government
should provide transportation back to Italy to those persons expelled
on March 3 and 4. The ERRC further urged Prime Minister D'Alema to
initiate thorough investigation into allegations that officers used
excessive force while detaining individuals for expulsion and
destroyed property belonging to Roma, and to punish strictly officers
guilty of abuse. The text of the letter follows:


Honourable Prime Minister D'Alema,

The European Roma Rights Center (ERRC), an international public
interest law organisation which monitors the rights of Roma and
provides legal defence in cases of human rights abuse, is deeply
concerned about reports of group deportations of Roma from Italy.

According to media reports, eyewitness testimony provided to the ERRC
and eyewitness testimony provided to the Italian non-governmental
organisation ARCI, in the early morning hours of March 3, 2000, more
than 400 municipal police officers, carabinieri - police reporting to
the Ministry of Defence - and military entered the municipal "camp for
nomads" of Tor de' Cenci on the outskirts of Rome. In an unannounced
raid, all of the inhabitants of the camp were detained and subjected
to checks. Those Roma who had valid permits issued by local police -
reportedly 98 out of 210 persons in the camp - were detained and
brought to a nearby camp at Via Carucci, approximately fifteen
kilometres from the camp at Tor de' Cenci, also on the edge of Rome.
Those Roma who did not have valid permits - reportedly 112 individuals
in total - were detained and taken to the airport in two police buses.
The Roma were taken into the airport through a back entrance,
apparently so that the expulsion would not attract public attention.
At least fifty-six of these were loaded onto a military aircraft at
Fiumicino, an airport operated by Ministry of the Interior. The plane
departed from Rome for Sarajevo, Bosnia, at 2:55 PM. Among those Roma
expelled were minors. According to ARCI, at least two Roma,
16-year-old Ms P.L. and 17-year-old Ms L.J., were sent to Bosnia
without their parents, in contravention of Italian law. Officials
dismantled the Tor de' Cenci camp, in the process destroying property
belonging to Roma. Journalists and monitors were not allowed to
witness the operation, neither the breakdown of the camp, nor the
deportation from the airport. Referring to the Roma concerned as
"nomads", Mayor of Rome Mr Franceso Rutelli stated in a faxed press
release dated March 6 that the operation had been "successful" and
that police removed "nomads involved in illegal activities."

Another operation reportedly took place at the Casilino 700 camp, also
in Rome, at approximately 1:00 AM in the night of March 3-4. According
to witnesses, a squad of police and carabinieri violently entered the
camp. Officials reportedly broke windows and used abusive physical
force while detaining individuals, as well as insulting the ethnic
origins of Roma in the camp. Approximately thirty Roma from the upper
right zone of Casilino - known to be the "Bosnian" area of camp - were
detained and deported on a military plane at an unknown time. Police
and municipal officials refused to provide the ERRC with any
information on either the raids, the detentions, or the group
deportations.

Police reportedly returned to the camp at Via Carucci on March 4 at
approximately 1:30 PM and detained a further number of Roma. Most of
these detainees were subsequently released. However, the whereabouts
of five or six of them were not known as of March 6. Officials have
not provided the public with any information with respect to the March
4 detentions.

Honourable Prime Minister D'Alema, the collective expulsion of aliens
is in contravention of Article 4 of Protocol 4 to the European
Convention on Human Rights. Discriminatory treatment additionally
violates international legal provisions to which Italy is a party
including Article 2 of the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights, Articles 2 and 5 of the International Convention on
the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, and Article 14
of the European Convention on Human Rights. The expulsions are
particularly deplorable in light of the United Nations' Committee for
the Elimination of Racial Discrimination's strongly worded March 1999
criticism of Italian discriminatory practice against Roma. The
Committee particularly noted "the apparent lack of appropriate
training for law enforcement officials and other public officials
regarding the provisions of the Convention."

The ERRC urges your office first of all to provide the public with an
explanation as to the legal grounds for the action and to condemn
forthwith policies targeting Roma for group expulsion from Italy. The
Italian government should provide transportation back to Italy to
those persons expelled on March 3 and 4. The ERRC additionally urges
your office to initiate thorough investigation into allegations that
officers used excessive force while detaining individuals for
expulsion and destroyed property belonging to Roma, and to punish
strictly officers guilty of abuse. We kindly request to be informed of
the results of any such investigations and of any disciplinary
measures taken.

Sincerely,
Dimitrina Petrova
Executive Director


***


Persons wishing to express similar concerns are urged to contact the
pertinent Italian authorities at the following contacts:

Prime Minister Mr Massimo D'Alema
Fax: +39 06 6798648

Minister Internal Affairs Mr Enzo Bianco
Fax: +39 06 46549534

Minister of Defence Honourable Professor Sergio Mattarella
Fax: +39 06 4885756

Foreign Minister Mr Lamberto Dini
Fax: +39 06 36912092

Mayor of Rome Mr Franceso Rutelli
Fax: +39 06 67102175


*****************

The European Roma Rights Center is an international public interest
law organisation which monitors the rights of Roma and provides legal
defence in cases of human rights abuse. For more information about the
Europea Roma Rights Center, visit the ERRC on the web at
http://errc.org.

European Roma Rights Center
1386 Budapest 62
P.O. Box 906/93
Hungary


Telephone: (36 1) 42 82 351
Fax: (36 1) 42 82 356

*****************

SUPPORT THE ERRC!

The European Roma Rights Center is dependent upon the generosity of
individual donors for its continued existence. If you believe the ERRC
performs a service valuable to the public, please join in enabling its
future with a contribution. Gifts of all sizes are welcome; bank
transfers are preferred. Please send your contribution to:

European Roma Rights Center
Budapest Bank Rt.
99P00402686
1054 Budapest
Bathory utca 1
Hungary

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