Associazione 21 luglio, the Senate’s Extraordinary Commission for the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights, and the International Centre of Interdisciplinary Studies on Migration held on 20 February a conference in Rome titled ‘Recognition, Protection and Promotion of Roma and Sinti Communities in Italy. What Are the Actions Needed?’.

The conference took place during the closing stretch of Italy's highly charged election, which brought issues of human rights, intolerance and racism to the forefront. This period also saw alarming manifestations of hate crimes.

While migration seemed to have played a crucial role throughout the election, up until recently issues related to the Roma and Sinti minorities held a similar place in the national debate. It is essential to continue to discuss the situation of Roma and Sinti communities and how can we defend and protect their rights.

What has been done so far?

Three main legislative proposals put forth in recent years regarding Roma and Sinti people were discussed and analyzed during the conference. The first is a proposed law for the institutional recognition of the extermination of Roma and Sinti people during the Nazi-fascist regime, also known as the Porrajmos. This proposal aims to add the Porrajmos to the already existing memorial day for the Jewish Holocaust. The second is a bill for the formal recognition of the historical Roma language-speaking minority. The third legislative action discussed is a popular initiative bill regarding "norms for the protection and equal opportunity for the historical-linguistic minorities of Roma and Sinti people," which supports the recognition of the cultural peculiarity of Roma and Sinti communities.

The president of Associazione 21 luglio, Carlo Stasolla, stressed that all legislative proposals that aimed to address the condition of Roma, Sinti and Caminanti thus far have done so by advocating for the recognition of their language, i.e., claiming their right as a linguistic minority to protect their cultural traditions.

However, he argued that change should be prioritized in other areas: first, by dismantling the monoethnic urban camps; second, by addressing the extreme poverty and discrimination in which Roma, Sinti and Caminanti live; third, by fighting against forced evictions and violations of fundamental rights. These issues were left outside of the main discussions on Roma and Sinti rights and fell short of being included in any of the legislative proposals.

Towards a new National Strategy

The discussions centered on the main question – how to move forward and develop a new National Strategy? Though the 2012-2020 Strategy had some theoretical progress, Stasolla argues that it has failed to live up to its objectives.

According to Stasolla, a plausible reason for this failure is its "original sin," that is, too much emphasis on cultural aspects which lead to a "dangerous ethnic focus."

Antonio Ciniero from the University of Salento has looked closely at precisely this issue. He argues that a unique definition of "Roma" does not exist and that the absence of such definition underlines the fact that the category of "Roma people" cannot represent a homogenous community.

On the contrary, diversity is evident in almost every one of its aspects, such as language, variation in geographic areas of origin, and difference in socio-economic conditions. Not only has the cultural approach in the form of public policy and in civil organizations been proven ineffective, but it has also contributed to the same social exclusion from which Roma people suffer.

In the presence of political candidates, the speakers promoted a new 2020 National Strategy that would go beyond the mere defense of linguistic and cultural aspects, and cease to consider Roma, Sinti and Caminanti communities as one group that shares a specific language and culture.

The change of strategy is rooted in understanding the heterogeneous nature of communities and individuals, some of whom are victims of systematic and institutional discrimination, which takes place in the form of wide monoethnic camps.

Focus on rights

Associazione 21 luglio stressed that the new strategy should replace the ethnic-cultural approach with a fundamental rights-based one, beginning with the right to social inclusion. However, discussing a strategy for social inclusion means understanding the map of social exclusion.

It is quite evident that on the one hand, 150,000 Roma and Sinti in Italy belong to a historic migration, and these people have acquired Italian citizenship and reached a sufficient level of integration. On the other hand, another 28,000 Roma and Sinti live in slums in a state of poverty, marginalization and segregation.

With the elections behind us, and as a new government will soon take shape, we must ask: will it work to implement the proposals made by Associazione 21 luglio to overcome the discrimination against Italy’s Roma, Sinti and Caminanti communities and individuals?