Order of the Court of Roma, II Civil Section, 30 May 2015

In deciding on a recourse introduced by the NGOs “Associazione per gli Studi Giuridici sull’Immigrazione – ASGI” and “Associazione 21 Luglio”, the Court in Rome declared that the decision of the Municipality of Rome concerning the construction of a village in an area of the town named “La Barbuta” to host almost exclusively Roma and Sinti, had to be regarded as an act of indirect discrimination against the members of those communities. It is a matter of fact that the area in question is on the far outskirts of Rome, has no links to the urban transport and would have placed the residents in an objective situation of discomfort and serious difficulties in using public services (such as access to education and health),as well with regard to integration. The Court remembered that international and European monitoring bodies have invited Italy many times to pay more attention to the prohibition of discrimination on the ground of ethnic origin. The order of the Court to abandon the project was grounded on Article 43 of legislative decree No. 286/1998 prohibiting discrimination on the ground of ethnic origin or nationality, and Article 2 of legislative decree No. 215/2003 prohibiting also indirect discrimination, i.e. two provisions aimed to implement the relevant treaties and the EU legislation.