Condensed from a press release dated 12 September 2013:
Around 35 Romani* families are being evicted from the informal settlement of Via Salviati, Rome, this morning, and taken to a segregated formal camp. Amnesty Italy, Associazione 21 Luglio and the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) have observers at the operation, and are concerned that the action does not meet human rights standards or procedural safeguards.
Today's action is the result of an order by Mayor Marino, 5 August 2013, which ordered the immediate transfer of the people and their property to the large formal camp, Castel Romano. This is the second time the Roma have been evicted from Via Salviati, which is just a few kilometres from the centre of Rome.
The Roma community sent an open letter to Mayor Marino, clearly stating that they don’t want to live in a ghetto. Castel Romano is a Roma-only mega-camp around 25 kilometres from the city. It is extremely difficult for Roma to access jobs and education from the location. The Roma community of Via Salviati has repeatedly asked the city of Rome’s authorities for dialogue. In the open letter to the Mayor, they asked to work towards policies for genuine inclusion. As far as the NGOs are aware, the request has not been followed up by the authorities.
The forced eviction is an undeniable backwards step from the positive commitments made in the National Strategy for Inclusion of Roma, Sinti and Caminanti, which emphasizes the need to overcome the model of the "camp" to combat isolation and promote social inclusion.
For more information contact:
Sinan Gökçen
Media and Communications Officer
European Roma Rights Centre
Tel. +36.30.500.1324sinan.gokcen@errc.org
Paola Nigrelli
Media Officer
Amnesty International Italia
+39.06.449.0224, +39.348.697.4361press@amnesty.it
*Roma, Romani, and Romany are all acceptable terms.
This press release is posted for information only, not as a blanket endorsement of any NGO's listed or involved.
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