Racism and anti-immigrant hysteria have been increasing in Italy in recent years. Hate crimes have been on the rise with reports of gangs of right-wing youth attacking Roma in Rome, Genoa, Turin, Milan and other cities.

Seventy years ago this month, Italy's Fascist regime published a "Manifesto of Race", which paved the way for its notorious racial laws persecuting Jews and members of other supposedly "inferior" minorities.
Now, the country's rightwing government has again stepped up special measures against an entire ethnic group.

In their election campaign earlier this year, Berlusconi and his allies had already made clear their intention of deporting tens of thousands of Roma back to Romania and former Yugoslavia. In mid-June a March decisions by Italy's highest appeal court was released stating that "it is acceptable to discriminate against Roma" because the court found that "they are thieves". Following the release of the court rulling, Italian Interior Minister Roberto Maroni, announced that a file is to be drawn up containing a DNA data base with digital fingerprints and photos of all Roma irregardless of their citizenship.

Unicef has protested that this is discriminatory and a violation of the UN's Declaration of the Rights of the Child. The Catholic magazine Famiglia Cristiana denounced the move as "an indecent and racist proposal" reminiscent of "when Jewish children were identified with a yellow star on their sleeves".

The European Parliament voted July 10th to adopt a resolution calling on member states to "review and repeal laws and policies that discriminate against the Roma on the basis of race and ethnicity." In November 2005, the European Monitoring Center on Racism and Xenophobia reported that Roma minorities are the ethnic group most susceptible to racism in the European Union. A spokesman for an Italian NGO opposed to fingerprinting states that life expectancy for Roma living in Italy is already under 60.

Read More | Anti-Gypsy sentiments out of control in Italy | Berlusconi government steps up its attacks on Roma and foreigners | Plight of the Roma: echoes of Mussolini | Move to fingerprint Gypsies reminds many of Italy's darker days | Italy Leads Fascist Revanche in Western Democracies

European Roma Rights Centre | Italy Indymedia