Democratic Party has asked Home Affairs Minister Annamaria Cancellieri to urgently verify the conditions under which some 800 refugees are living in an abandoned building in Rome.
The refugees are forced to live in destitute conditions in a building which has been named Palazzo Salaam, formerly belonging to Tor Vergata University in Rome.
Emanuele Fiano, MP, and President of Democratic Party’s Security and Defence Forum said the refugees are living in inhuman conditions, without running water and electricity. They are mainly refugees from Somali, Eritrea, Afghanistan and other countries who have fled from war.
The government should urgently solve this shameful, socially and hygienically dangerous situation, Mr. Fiano said.
Nils Muižnieks, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights who recently visited the building strongly criticised Italy’s way of treating refugees.
“I personally witnessed the intolerable circumstances faced by 800 such persons, struggling to survive in an abandoned building in Rome. This is unacceptable in a country like Italy,” the Commissioner said.
By Stephen Ogongo Ongong’a
