ITALY: Eastern European immigrants and Roma living in shanty town along river Tiber, in heart of Rome

Record ID: 782806

  • Title: ITALY: Eastern European immigrants and Roma living in shanty town along river Tiber, in heart of Rome
  • Date: 26th July 2007
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF ROMANIAN IMMIGRANT USING SMALL PARROTS TO ATTRACT TOURISTS IN THE STREET (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) ROMANIAN IMMIGRANT WHO DID NOT WANT TO BE NAMED, SAYING: "I make some money with the little birds. I have many kids at home. In my home, in Romania, there is no work. It's no good."
  • Embargoed: 10th August 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Italy
  • Country: Italy
  • Topics: Domestic Politics,Social Services / Welfare
  • Reuters ID: LVA69VDB0L41CKH1IE7YDRI0UFSI
  • Story Text: As Roman authorities makes plans to move Roma living in large camps out of town, a slum inhabited by newly-arrived Eastern European migrants is rising along the banks of the river that runs through the heart of the city.Looking down from Rome's ancient Milvian bridge, well-hidden in the vegetation that grows on the banks of the river Tiber, there is a cluster of shacks and tents.
    Janus, a sixty-year old migrant from Hungary, lives in one of the shacks together with his younger brother and two dogs.
    "I've only been living here for two months," he told a Reuters Television crew, showing them around "his place", just by the running river.
    "Before I used to live in a barracks, up there, for three years," he added, pointing upwards.
    Many Eastern European migrants, possibly thousands, live along the banks of the river that winds through the heart of the Italian capital. Many of them, like Janus, are not Roma, but according to local aid agency estimates most of them are - predominantly from Romania.
    The new wave of Roma immigrants that are coming to Italy after further EU enlargement at the beginning of the year, are adding to an already large Roma community which has been living in Italy for decades. According to the Italian organisation Opera Nomadi there are about 160,000 Roma, from Romania and the former Yugoslavia, now living in the country. Most Italians do not differentiate between new homeless Eastern European migrants, Romanian Roma, and Roma from Serbia, instead grouping them all together as "Gypsies".
    The new shanty town on the river Tiber is rising at a time when Rome's mayor Walter Veltroni is under strong pressure to limit the surging Eastern European immigration to the capital and re-locate Roma communities out of town.
    Veltroni flew to the Romanian capital Bucharest earlier this month to urge the Romanian government to discourage people from leaving the country. He is also embarking on a plan to build large camps outside the city to host Roma communities and new arrivals.
    The plans are meeting resistance among the Roma that have been living in Rome for years.
    The central Via Gordiani Camp is home to predominantly Serbian Roma.
    Many of the older people in the camp came to Italy in the 1970's to escape what was then Yugoslavia in a time of economic crisis.
    Their children were born in Italy, attend Italian schools and all speak Italian fluently. Few speak the original language of their parents. These children are able to live without papers and receive an education, but then they hit a citizenship barrier when they turn 18.
    In the camp, the intense heat of the Rome summer is virtually inescapable. The plastic containers in which families live provide little respite, especially as each 36 square metre space houses, on average, 5 or 6 people.
    "Life is very ugly in these camps. In the summer we burn, like sardines. We die of heat in the summer and freeze in the winter," said Svetlana Traikovic, one of the residents. Svetlana came from Serbia 30 years ago and her four children were born in Italy.
    Despite their current discomfort, the residents are opposed to moving to a larger camp outside the city. On the contrary, they want Italian citizenship and equal rights with Italians.
    "Even though I was born in Italy, they consider me of foreign blood and gave me Slav (Serbian) citizenship," said Dragan, Svetlana's son.
    "I was born here, I've never left Italy, I have three children who were born here, I have an honest job and, yet, I'm not getting citizenship," he added.
    Dragan applied for citizenship at 18 but has been waiting more than five years for an answer.
    A child born in Italy can claim citizenship as long as at least one parent is Italian or legally resident in Italy, according to the Ministry of the Interior. Many Roma children therefore do not automatically qualify, as their parents may not have been legal residents. Dragan and many others are effectively stateless, and fear seeking Serbian citizenship because it carries risks of deportation. Dragan has never been to Serbia, even on holiday.
    A peaceful corner of the camp commemorates the tragedy that can result from inferior living conditions.
    Serbian-born Gordana Traikovic, helped by her 8-year-old daughter Lijuba and other children in the camp, has put together a small shrine to her 16 year old son Sasa. Sasa died in December last year, along with his pregnant wife, when their home caught fire during the night. Smoke flooded the container, home to the family of seven.
    "I remember nothing. I don't remember the funeral of my son. I've seen the coffin of my son only in the newspapers. I have a void in my head," Gordana said.
    "But my son was a good person," she added, with tears in her eyes.
    "He used to work around here, all night, for 20 euros. He cleaned the sports centre around the corner, to feed us..." she said.
    Gordana's desire to draw attention to her son's honesty and work ethic reflects the fact that Italian public opinion largely associates Roma, and now Eastern European migrants, with criminal activities.
    "They create lots of problems. They have benefits that we don't have. I think that at least the camps should be moved far from here. It's better not to have them in the centre," said Roman resident, Marzio Riello, passing by a Roma mother begging in the streets.
    Nearby a newly-arrived Romanian Roma, who did not want to be named, is trying to make money showing little parrots to tourists.
    "I make some money with the little birds," he said.
    "I have many kids at home. In my home, in Romania, there is no work. It's no good," he added.
    Interior Ministry estimates confirm Roma involvement in illegal activities like burglary, theft and drug smuggling, but many Roma have legal jobs. This is despite precarious living arrangements, difficulties in obtaining citizenship and general mistrust by the public encouraging them into taking illegal options.
    While there are many differences among the various people which fall under the general Italian grouping of "Gypsy", they share similar problems. And for many, the problems in the camps and the government's re-location plans, are seeing more and more of them prefer to make their homes in the slum dwellings which line the river Tiber.
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