Italy: Far-right leaders furious as ECRI report accuses police of racism
31 October 2024
In response to the latest monitoring report from the Council of Europe on racist discrimination in Italy, deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini reacted with fury to his police force being ‘dragged through the mud’ by what he called a ‘useless organization also paid for by the taxes of Italian citizens’:
"To be told that law enforcement agencies are racist pisses you off, we are always with uniforms, if these gentlemen like Roma and illegal immigrants, take them to Strasbourg".
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and other leaders of the far-right governing coalition also chimed in to condemn the report from ECRI, the Council of Europe’s anti-racism and discrimination monitoring body. The report highlighted how public discourse and political speech had become increasingly racist and antagonistic, “targeting refugees, asylum seekers and migrants, as well as Italian citizens with migration backgrounds, Roma and LGBTI persons”; and how often hate speech from high-level politicians remains unchallenged, especially during election periods, both online and offline.
This has led to a form of ‘trivialisation’ of hateful remarks in public life, and the report found that in recent years, Roma are one of the groups that has been most targeted by negative political narratives. But it was the criticism of racist and homophobic policing, ethnic profiling and the lack of accountability that drew the ire of Italy’s leaders.
In a post on her X account, Meloni declared that the police force deserves respect, not such insults: “Our security forces are made up of men and women who every day work with dedication and self-sacrifice to ensure the safety of all citizens, without distinctions.”
Deputy Prime Minister, Antonio Tajani expressed his government’s profound disdain for the Council of Europe report: “I don’t agree with a word of what was written,” Tajani said. “There is no racism within the Italian police force. We must respect those who serve the country, working day and night for everyone’s safety.”
With regards to the situation of Roma in Italy, the ERRC wholeheartedly welcomes this report and its recommendations, which further vindicate what we have been saying for two decades of reporting, research and litigation in defence of Roma rights in Italy.
What the report actually says
It is rare for the publication of an ECRI report to hit the headlines across European media. The flurry of angry, indignant responses from Italy’s leading far-right sovereignists was a sure sign that human rights defenders and monitors hit a nerve. So, what was so incendiary in a report by ECRI, a sober and balanced monitoring body, whose reports place great stock in highlighting progress good practices and progress made alongside concerns about the rights of the most vulnerable in our societies?
Clearly the raw-nerve issue for far-right, law-and-order nativists was policing. But the reactionary rhetoric of righteous indignation should not overshadow other issues of concern affecting visible minorities raised in the report such as hate speech, hate crime, social and economic exclusion, and access to public services. Below are some snapshots from the report:
Policing
ECRI bluntly expressed its regret that “little or no action has been taken over the last few years to ensure better accountability in cases of any racist or LGBTI-phobic abuse committed by state police officers, carabinieri and other law enforcement officials.” ECRI invited the authorities to set up a broad-based high level working group, “to examine ways and means to develop more robust accountability mechanisms in cases of racist and LGBTI-phobic police abuse, including through the establishment of an independent police oversight body.”
ECRI also observed that racial profiling remains routine, and that during a visit to Italy its delegation learned about “many accounts of racial profiling by law enforcement officials that impacts especially the Roma community and people of African descent”. The report stated that racial profiling has considerably negative effects, erodes trust in the police, and generates “a feeling of humiliation and injustice among affected groups and resulting in stigmatisation and alienation.” This lack of trust further diminishes the capacity of law enforcement to address hate-motivated violence.
ECRI found that Italian authorities seemed unaware that ethnic profiling could even be an issue, “and have not considered the existence of racial profiling as a potential form of institutional racism”. The body called for independent reviews of stop and search practices to be conducted with the active participation of citizens and organisations from groups potentially exposed to racial profiling practices.
Forced evictions and housing
More than ten years after Italy promised to overcome ‘the system of the camps’, the report found that forced evictions of Roma in violation of international standards have continued, and many Roma still reside in formal and unformal settlements, which often lack basic amenities and are located in city outskirts with limited access to public transportation.
ECRI urged the authorities to take further action to address the difficult housing situation of Roma and to enhance cooperation with, and provide financial support to relevant local authorities to provide sufficient social housing to vulnerable members of the Roma community. As regards forced evictions ECRI repeated its call for authorities to ensure that Roma who may be evicted from their homes enjoy all the guarantees that international standards provide for “in particular, that they are notified of the planned eviction well in advance, benefit from appropriate legal protection, and are not to be evicted without the possibility of being rehoused in decent accommodation.”
Beyond the rhetoric of reactionary outrage, in an era where democratic backsliding has gathered pace, the fundamental human rights issues raised in this report on an EU Member State should be a cause for concern. Over these years, recommendations by international bodies and rights groups have gone largely unheeded by the Italian authorities.
With regards to Roma rights and racism in Italy, we echo European Commission President Von der Leyen’s assertion in 2020 on the need to do more than condemn racism. In a plenary speech to the European Parliament, she stated “we need to relentlessly fight racism and discrimination”, and where we encounter it “we must sound the alarm and act immediately”. Since then, the only sound from Brussels on racism in Italy is silence.
