Creation of a Roma fingerprints database in Italy
30.6.2008
ORAL QUESTION WITH DEBATE O-0077/08
pursuant to Rule 108 of the Rules of Procedure
by Giusto Catania, on behalf of the GUE/NGL Group
to the Commission
The Italian Minister of the Interior stated on 25 June during a hearing in the Constitutional Committee of the Italian Parliament that the police is collecting fingerprints of Roma as part of a series of checks that are being made in Roma camps in larger cities, and that minors are also undergoing fingerprinting procedures. It appears that such data are being stored in a newly created special database held by Italian law enforcement authorities placed under the control of Prefects, who have been appointed as 'extraordinary commissioners for the Roma emergency' and granted extraordinary powers. The database purposes, aims, access and other data protection guarantees have not been clarified. The Minister stated during the hearing that 'it is not ethnic filing, but a census... that foresees that fingerprints of all the residents (in the camps), minors included, are taken, to avoid phenomena such as begging: the final objective is that of allowing those who stay to live in acceptable conditions, those of a civilised society'.
Is the Commission aware of the creation of a Roma database in Italy? Doesn't the Commission think that such a database is based on race and ethnic origin, as fingerprints are gathered only for Roma, while Italian citizens are not required to undergo a similar procedure? Doesn't the Commission think that this constitutes clear discrimination based on race, ethnic origin and nationality? Doesn't the Commission think that the collection of fingerprints of Roma and the creation of a Roma database do not respect human rights and fundamental freedoms, the principles of equality and non-discrimination, privacy rights and data protection rules, as recognised by the European Convention on Human Rights and the related case-law, the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, EU treaties and notably Article 6 TEU and the political mandates of Article 12 TEC (prohibition of discrimination based on nationality) and of Article 13 TEC (prohibition of discrimination based on race and ethnic origin), as well as the anti-discrimination directive on race and ethnicity (2000/43/EC)[1] and the directive on free movement (2004/38/EC)[2]? Will the Commission raise its concern with the Italian authorities, and what will the Commission do to ensure that the current situation of Roma in Italy is dealt according to European standards on human rights and fundamental freedoms?
Tabled: 30.06.2008
Forwarded: 02.07.2008
Deadline for reply: 09.07.2008