Italy: New decree aimed at immigrants
01 January 1991
Italy: New decree aimed at immigrants
artdoc June=1993
Anti-racist and civil liberties organisations have described a
new decree, to make it easier to deport immigrants, as
unconstitutional.
The Minister of Justice, Giovanni Conso, has obtained
governmental approval for a decree simplifying procedures for
deporting immigrants committed to trial or simply remanded in
custody on suspicion of having committed offences such as arson,
damage to property, theft, or receipt of stolen property. It
seems that under the decree any `foreigner' deported has the
right to return to Italy to follow the trial, although,
predictably, no mention is made of legal aid or how he or she
would meet the financial costs of return. Any
foreigner who ignores a deportation order, which can be issued
against overstayers, asylum seekers, etc, could face up to three
years in prison.
Says Justice Minister, Giovanni Conso: `We have decided to
reinforce deportation as a police measure, not only by broadening
the circumstances in which an expulsion order may be issued, but
also by introducing a more efficient and rapid means of
deportation, i.e. the immediate accompaniment of the foreigner
to the border'.
Not surprisingly, the decree has met with considerable
opposition. The civil liberties group, Senza Confine says `What
is being set up is a discretionary channel for spiriting people
from the ghettoes to the prisons and from the prisons to the
frontier. Anyone who has been accused of an offence or received
a deportation order is at risk'. According to Rifondazione
Comunista, who describe the measures as overturning the
presumption of innocence, clause 8 of the Conso decree
`institutionalises racial discrimination'.
Before the Conso decree was announced, anti-racist and
immigrant associations in Rome and Milan had organised
demonstrations to protest at the deteriorating situation of non-
EC prisoners in Italian jails. Many immigrants are held for minor
crimes in prisons for unduly long periods awaiting trial. The
Conso decree, therefore, is seen as a racist response to the
present prison crisis.
It seems that such a decree is usually a temporary measure,
with a limited lifespan of, say, six months, after which a
parliamentary debate where amendments are tabled, normally
transforms it into law (Il Manifesto 9,13,15.4.93; 13.5.93)
Mayor gives police power to evacuate `Red ghetto'
Police are threatening to evacuate a tomato harvesting centre,
home to roughly 1,000 migrant workers from outside the EC, in
Villa Literna. The local mayor has signed an eviction order
against the `Red ghetto', as it is called, and passed on the
necessary papers to the local police chief, citing `health and
hygiene reasons'.
Last year, there was a racially inspired arson attack at the
centre during which about ten people were injured (Il Manifesto
13.4.93).
IRR European Race Audit no 4 1993. Contact: Liz Fekete, Institute
of Race Relations, 2-6 Leeke Street, London WC1X 9HS. Tel: ++ 071
837 0041
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