ITALY: ROM CAMPS IN ROME, SEI "DO NOT BLAME A WHOLE POPULATION"

No to isolated and "controlled" camps outside the Orbital Road, because they are "a self-evident violation of the human rights of the targeted population": instead of the "security pact", there is the need for a pact "under which security is pursued through social inclusion", through the children’s right to education, through access to council houses and the promotion of female work. The invitation "not to blame a whole population" comes from Comunità di Sant’Egidio, Caritas of Rome, Arci Solidarietà, Comunità di Capodarco of Rome, the Jesuit Refugee Service and the Refugee and Migrant Service of the Evangelical Churches, which today published an open letter about the Rom and legality, about the recent signature of the "Patto per Roma sicura" (Pact for a safe Rome) between the Municipality of Rome and the Ministry of the Interior. The signatories, who know very well the Rom camps and the Rom and Sinta populations because they have been there for a long time, say they are "worried" about the "hostile and sometimes openly intolerant tones" that have recently been used against the Rom. Statements that "create social alarmism in difficult urban fabrics and go back to the stereotype of the vagrant criminal gypsy". "The Rom and Sinta populations cannot be used as a false target – they state –, instead of focussing on the real problems of our suburbs".