In Italy, law enforcement agencies conduct racial profiling during control, surveillance and investigation activities, especially against the Roma community and people of African origin .

The complaint comes from ECRI, the Council of Europe's anti-racism and intolerance body , in its latest report on Italy, updated to April 2024. Strasbourg highlights that "the authorities do not seem to be aware of the extent of the problem and have not considered the existence of racial profiling as a form of potential institutional racism ".

"During its visit to Italy, ECRI received many testimonies of racial profiling by law enforcement, especially on the Roma community and people of African origin," the document reads.

Therefore, the request to the authorities of our country to carry out a study that will have to set itself the "goal of identifying and addressing any practice of racial profiling by law enforcement" . Strasbourg will evaluate in two years whether the recommendation has been carried out.

ECRI also criticizes the "increasingly xenophobic" policy of our country, which "promotes a culture of exclusion of migrants" and denounces "undue criticisms that aim to undermine the authority of individual judges who decide on migration cases, undermining the independence of the judiciary".

A harsh attack, and Giorgia Meloni's response was not long in coming. " Our law enforcement forces are made up of women and men who work every day with dedication and selflessness to ensure the safety of all citizens, without distinction. They deserve respect, not similar insults ," the Prime Minister wrote on social media.

(Unioneonline/L)

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