‘Counts’ in the Italian ‘nomad camps’ : an incautious ethnic census of Roma

First published online: 01 April 2011While in France the possibility of collecting ethnic data led to long-lasting debates, in Italy the government enacted an emergency decree to carry out a census of so-called ‘nomad camps’ populated mainly by Roma. Starting from this case, this article examines the question of ethnic data collection in Italy. The contribution highlights that in Italy legislative provisions have established a ‘promotional framework’ for minorities. In contrast with France and its official colour-blindness, the Italian approach also allows for ethnic data collection whenever this is needed for policies in favour of minorities. However, the recent emergency measures applied to the ‘nomad camps’ in Italy, including a census, were not framed in the context of such positive measures and are thus not easily compatible with anti-discrimination and privacy law. Hence, the Nomad Emergency Decree opened the way for Italy's first experiences of civil rights litigation based on the ‘discrimination frame’