Italy: Open-ended emergencies: deployment of soldiers in cities and summary treatment for Roma people

Abstract:

The measures by the current government that came to power on a platform in which “security” was a priority to which all other concerns were subordinated, confirmed its approach whereby a number of issues were to be treated as “emergencies”, thus justifying the introduction of policies and practices that would appear at best unusual under normal conditions. Measures targeting Roma whose mere “presence” and “illegal settlements” were certified as an emergency by decree on 21 May 2008 due to the perception of insecurity that it caused among citizens, and public order and security issues, led to an outcry, both by human rights and anti-racist associations in Italy and at an international level, whereas the temporary deployment of 3,000 soldiers in sensitive sites in cities since 4 August 2008 was accepted without much complaint. Defence minister Ignazio La Russa did not feel that it was necessary to justify its reasons at length as he failed to see why the routine deployment of soldiers in the cities in a democratic state in peacetime should be controversial: “No decent person has ever been scared of a police officer, a carabiniere or a [member of the] military”. Both these measures were renewed and extended a year after they came into force.