Reported in The Guardian today here

Italy's highest appeal court has ruled that it is acceptable to discriminate against Roma on the grounds that they are thieves.

What sort of world are we living in where this can happen ?

This must be the same Italian court that said it's lawful for a wife to lie in court under oath about any extra marital affair. How Italy runs as a country defeats me.

The sort of world that allows discrimination against most ethnic minorities whether supported by the law or not

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I missed that one.

I love Italy and all things Italian, but really noticed the anti-Roma feeling when I was there. The Italians usually love babies & small children and make a huge fuss of them, but I sat on a bus when a Roma woman & cute (and very dirty) 2 year old girl got on - everyone moved away and literally looked down their noses at them - you could feel the contempt. Yes, I probably held on to my wallet more firmly, but I also made silly faces at that lovely little kid.

I cannot remember clearly but wasn't there a huge Italian backlash against the Immigration of the Roma earlier in the year and a rise in crime.

Yes, there was a very brutal rape & murder by a Roma man just before the elections. I went looking for a report and stumbled on this about the same Italian court ...

Italy's highest court has ruled that a woman wearing jeans cannot be raped.
The Supreme Court of Appeal in Rome on Wednesday overturned a rape conviction, saying that the supposed victim must have agreed to sex because her jeans could not have been removed without her consent.

Unbelievable.

speechless

Are Italy a signatory to the EU Conventions on Human Rights?

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It's terrible that people discriminate against any group of people but it seems to be human nature.

I'm sure we are getting better as a race and most of us are positive in our efforts not to do this.

But it would be interesting to know how many people have Roma/Gypsy friends and how they cope with the indiscriminate thieving.

I'll confess that I have never heard the name Roma, and always thought they were Romani or Gypsies. Has there been a shift in names recently (i.e. last 50 years)? I understood the OP as referring to people of Rome. Duh.

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γνωθι σεαυτόν. And on the eighth day, god made the fossils