Italy
During the last years there have been and increase in the number of racist and hate crimes in Italy. The last significant and striking event took place in Florence in 2011: two Senegalese have been killed by an Italian racist man. According to 2011 UNAR’s report there have been 540 relevant cases of ethnic discriminations.
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Racist violence - Hate Speech Statistics
Italy has only recently begun to collect any kind of data on hate crimes, and the existing data appears to be partial. Law enforcement crime reports do not record the victim’s ethnicity, race, or religion; statistics drawn from the Interior Ministry’s centralized database can therefore not be disaggregated by particular vulnerable groups (for example, Roma or Muslims).
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Overall numbers of racist & hate crime
142 hate crime (year: 2009).
Qualitative Info
Italy has only recently begun to collect any kind of data on hate crimes, and the existing data appears to be partial. Law enforcement crime reports do not record the victim’s ethnicity, race, or religion; statistics drawn from the Interior Ministry’s centralized database can therefore not be disaggregated by particular vulnerable groups (for example, Roma or Muslims). The Interior Ministry does not publish hate crime data, though it has a policy of providing statistics upon request. Italy reported 147 hate crimes to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in 2007, 112 hate crimes in 2008 and 142 hate crimes in 2009. Regarding racist crime, The Interior Ministry recorded 64 racist and 31 xenophobic crimes between January and September 2009.
Groups affected/interested
- Migrants
- Ethnic minorities
Key socio-economic / Institutional Areas
- Anti-discrimination
- Anti-racism
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Deaths/killings
7 (year: 2009)
Qualitative Info
The NGO Lunaria reported 7 people killed, 58 other cases of racist violence targeting immigrants and refugees, and 11 cases in which property was damaged. Lunaria stated that the groups targeted most often included citizens of Bangladesh and Romania.
Source:
http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/italy0311WebRevised.pdf
Groups affected/interested
- Migrants
- Refugees
- Ethnic minorities
Type (R/D)
- Extremism - organised Racist Violence
- Anti-migrant/xenophobia
Key socio-economic / Institutional Areas
- Anti-discrimination
- Anti-racism
External Url http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/01/13/italy-s-complacency-racism-puts-lives-risk
See other countriesSee indicator history -
Court cases on racist - hate crime
9 (year 2008).
Qualitative Info
Data provided by the Ministry of Justice on “racial discrimination” cases initiated and concluded in 2008 does not allow for detailed analysis. It is not disaggregated by specific crime. The statistics also do not capture cases in which the prosecutor did not request the application of the aggravating circumstance of racial sentiment. The document does not clarify whether information was obtained from all prosecutor’s offices and trial courts around the country. A representative of the Justice Ministry acknowledged that the collection and systematization of data are partial and problematic.
Source:
Human Rights Watch, Everyday Intolerance. Racist and Xenophobic Violence in Italy, March 2011 - http://www.statewatch.org/analyses/no-137-italy-security-package.pdf
Groups affected/interested
- Migrants
- Ethnic minorities
Key socio-economic / Institutional Areas
- Anti-discrimination
- Anti-racism
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Overall numbers of racist & hate crime
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Discrimination Statistics
Between 2009 and 2010 in Italy the change in number of complaints regarding ethnic discrimination received by Equality Body was +326. The latest report of Unar show 766 cases where ethnic discrimination was found by Equality Body, of which 70,2% (540 cases) has been declared relevant.
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Complaints regarding ethnic discrimination received by Equality Body/Agency/Court
708 (from National Office Against Racial Discrimination, 2010).
Qualitative Info
Bertween 2009 and 2010 the change in numeber of complaints was +326.
Source:
http://fra.europa.eu/fraWebsite/attachments/annual-report-2011-chapter5.pdf
Groups affected/interested
- Migrants
- Ethnic minorities
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Number of cases where ethnic discrimination was found/established by Equality Body/Agency/Court
540 cases.
Qualitative Info
The latest report of Unar (National Office against Racial Discrimination) show 766 cases reported, of which 70,2% (540 cases) has been declared relevant.
Source:
Unar, Parità di trattamento e uguaglianza in Italia. Un anno di attività contro ogni forma e causa di discriminazione, Armando EDITORE, rOMA, 2011 - ww.unar.it
Groups affected/interested
- Migrants
- Refugees
- Roma & Travelers
- Ethnic minorities
Type (R/D)
- Anti-migrant/xenophobia
- Anti-semitism
- Islamophobia
- Anti-roma/zinghanophobia
Key socio-economic / Institutional Areas
- Anti-discrimination
- Anti-racism
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Cases solved / corrected / settled
414.
Qualitative Info
The latest report of Unar (National Office against Racial Discrimination) show 414 cases solved representing 76,7% of 540 cases declared relevant.
Source
Unar, Parità di trattamento e uguaglianza in Italia. Un anno di attività contro ogni forma e causa di discriminazione, Armando Editore, Roma, 2011 - http://www.unar.it
:
Groups affected/interested
- Migrants
- Ethnic minorities
Key socio-economic / Institutional Areas
- Anti-discrimination
- Anti-racism
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Sanctions imposed / compensations / awards attributed-received
Yes.
Qualitative Info
The Italian judicial system provides, in most of cases, forms of compensation that in most of cases concerning only the restoration of rights denied by discriminatory act, while it is almost absent awards for the injury suffered.
Source:
Unar, Parità di trattamento e uguaglianza in Italia. Un anno di attività contro ogni forma e causa di discriminazione, Armando EDITORE, Roma, 2011 - http://www.unar.it
Groups affected/interested
- Migrants
- Ethnic minorities
Key socio-economic / Institutional Areas
- Anti-discrimination
- Anti-racism
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ECtHR cases - decisions art.14 etc.
No cases (2011).
Qualitative Info
In the last report of Europen Court of Human Rights there are not cases of infringements of art. 14.
Source:
http://www.echr.coe.int/NR/rdonlyres/11CE0BB3-9386-48DC-B012-AB2C046FEC7C/0/STATS_EN_2011.PDF
http://www.echr.coe.int/NR/rdonlyres/11CE0BB3-9386-48DC-B012-AB2C046FEC7C/0/STATS_EN_2011.PDF
Groups affected/interested
- Migrants
- Ethnic minorities
Key socio-economic / Institutional Areas
- Anti-discrimination
- Anti-racism
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Cases - investigations before other EU and international bodies (European Committee for Social Rights - UN HRC - CAT etc.)
Yes.
Qualitative Info
The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) expressed concern in 2008 about hate speech, including by politicians, directed at foreigners and Roma; negative attitudes and stereotypes about Roma; and ill-treatment of Roma by law enforcement officers in the course of camp raids. The committee urged Italy to “take resolute action to counter any tendency, especially from politicians, to target, stigmatize, stereotype or profile people on the basis of race, colour, descent and national or ethnic origin or to use racist propaganda for political purposes.” During Italy’s review under the Universal Periodic Review mechanism of the UN Human Rights Council in February 2010, 28 countries expressed concerns relating to the treatment of migrants and Roma and Sinti.
Source:
Human Rights Watch, Everyday Intolerance. Racist and Xenophobic Violence in Italy, 2011 - http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/italy0311WebRevised.pdf
Groups affected/interested
- Migrants
- Roma & Travelers
- Ethnic minorities
Key socio-economic / Institutional Areas
- Policing - law enforcement
- Anti-discrimination
- Anti-racism
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Decisions-Infringment procedures initiated before the European Court of Justice
Yes.
Qualitative Info
A number of the measures introduced as part of the so-called “security package” adopted in May 2008 by members of the coalition led by Berlusconi, have been quashed in a series of recent ecisions by European Court of Justice in Luxembourg. Two key issues that the rulings highlighted include the discrimination that introducing longer sentences for the same criminal offences in cases involving “illegal” immigrants entails, that the imprisonment under criminal law of immigrants who have been caught while their status is illegal and have not complied with an order to leave the country contravenes the so-called Returns Directive. On 28 April 2011, in one of a series of cases referred to the ECJ in Luxembourg, the first chamber of the court found that national rules imposing imprisonment on third-country nationals residing illegally in a member state who fail to comply with an order to leave the country “is liable to jeopardise the attainment of the objective of introducing an effective policy for removal and repatriation in keeping with fundamental rights”.
Source:
http://www.statewatch.org/analyses/no-137-italy-security-package.pdf
Groups affected/interested
- Migrants
- Ethnic minorities
Key socio-economic / Institutional Areas
- Policing - law enforcement
- Anti-discrimination
- Anti-racism
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Complaints regarding ethnic discrimination received by Equality Body/Agency/Court