Italy, citing crime, targets Gypsies

ROME - Italian authorities have started fingerprinting tens of thousands of Gypsies living in nomad camps across the country - adults and children alike - brushing aside accusations of racism by human-rights advocates and international organizations.

Interior Minister Roberto Maroni told parliament this week that the move was needed to fight crime and identify illegal immigrants for expulsion but also to improve the lives of those legally living in the makeshift, often unsanitary camps.

"We intend to make a census to see who lives in Gypsy camps, who has a right to stay and to live in humane conditions," he said. "Those who don't have a right to stay will be repatriated."

More than 700 encampments have been built, mainly around Rome, Milan and Naples, populated almost entirely by Gypsies, also known as Roma.

The measure by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's conservative government, part of its crackdown on street crime, has provoked a storm of protests at home and abroad. Officials have spoken recently of a "Roma emergency" in Italy's big cities, blaming them for rising crime.

Maroni, a leading member of the anti-immigrant Northern League party, said the census would be completed in October. Critics, including the center-left opposition, say the measure is not a census and is unfairly singling out a minority. Italy has an overall population census every 10 years that does not include fingerprinting.

The Interior Ministry said prints would be taken only from people who do not have a valid Italian or European Union document, which would exempt Gypsies who come from EU member Romania. Maroni said Red Cross members would be present to ensure that the rights of the Roma were respected.

Maroni contended the fingerprinting would be especially beneficial to Roma children whose parents send them to beg or steal instead of to school. He said those children would be removed from their parents' custody.

Accusations of discrimination have rained in from international groups, including the U.N. Children's Fund and the Council of Europe. The Italian chapter of Amnesty International called the move "discriminatory, disproportionate and unjustified."

Italian newspapers published photos of gloved officials taking prints from the ink-stained hands of Gypsies living in Naples, and reported yesterday that fingerprinting would begin in Rome next week.

Some authorities were also identifying those fingerprinted by their religion and ethnicity. A Catholic lay organization, the Sant'Egidio Community, distributed what it said were census papers from Naples yesterday, which included fields listing religion and ethnicity.

"I won't call it a racist measure, but the fact that a country that belongs to the G-8 and the European Union is discriminating against people on the basis of ethnicity is unacceptable," said Marco Impagliazzo, Sant'Egidio's president.

The EU parliament is to debate the issue next week.

"I don't fully understand all aspects of the Italian proposals," said Vladimir Spidla, the EU social-affairs commissioner. "However, it is clear that in Europe, it would be impossible to grant rights to certain citizens and not grant them to others based on their ethnic origin."