Wayzata World Factbook 1996/The World Factbook - 1996 Edition - Wayzata Technology (3079) (1996).iso/pc/text/humanrts/italy.txt

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TITLE:  ITALY HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES, 1994
AUTHOR:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DATE:  FEBRUARY 1995

                             ITALY


Italy is a democratic, multiparty republic with a
directly-elected parliamentary government.  Executive authority
is vested in the Council of Ministers, headed by the President
of the Council (the Prime Minister).  The Head of State
(President of the Republic) selects the Prime Minister after
consulting with leaders of all political forces in Parliament.
The judiciary is independent of the executive, but continues to
be subject to occasional political pressures.

The armed forces are under the control of the Government and
Parliament.  There are four separate police forces under
different ministerial or local authorities.  During the year
there have been some credible reports of police maltreatment of
individuals while in official custody.

Italy has an industrialized market economy.  Although heavy
government ownership of the primary industrial sectors
persists, privatization is well underway.

Societal discrimination and some official abuses continued to
be problems.  There were sporadic acts of violence or
discrimination aimed at ethnic or religious minorities and
several instances of physical abuse of prisoners by guards.
The judicial system has moved slowly in punishing the
perpetrators.  Moreover, the judiciary itself is accused of
abuses such as excessive use of preventive detention and of
inordinately drawn-out proceedings.  Politically motivated
terrorist violence remained at low levels, but organized
criminal elements continued to use terrorist tactics, albeit
less frequently than in 1993.

RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

Section 1  Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including
           Freedom from:

     a.  Political and Other Extrajudicial Killing

In May the public prosecutor in Turin brought manslaughter
charges against two police officers accused of beating a
suspect to death after his arrest in December 1993; the trial
began in November and was still in progress at year's end.
Also begun in November and still in progress was the trial in
Turin of two policemen accused of inflicting mortal injuries on
an unarmed suspect they were apprehending.  In October the
judiciary in Padua committed to trial an officer of the
carabiniere police force who was accused of manslaughter in the
death of an 11-year-old Roma detainee in September 1993; a
court hearing is scheduled for March 1995.  The case of the
Iranian opposition leader killed in March 1993 remains
unsolved.

There were no credible reports of death while in official
custody in 1994.

     b.  Disappearance

There were no reports of disappearance.

     c.  Torture or Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading
         Treatment or Punishment

The law prohibits torture and cruel or degrading punishment.
However, there have been credible reports that in several cases
police abused detainees or prisoners during interrogation,
usually by repeated kicks and punches or prolonged beatings
with batons.  In February a public prosecutor in Rome initiated
proceedings against a police officer accused of ill-treatment
of a 13-year-old in September 1993.

There also continue to be credible allegations--some proven
true--of guards' abuse of prisoners.  In November 1993 the
director of a jail in Pavia was suspended from duty and
committed to trial on charges of having placed in isolation a
detainee for whom a medical doctor had instead recommended
hospitalization; the trial is scheduled for January 1995.

A report by Amnesty International in June cited specific
instances of alleged ill-treatment of prisoners, including 13
formal complaints in February by inmates of Sulmona prison
accusing the staff of maltreating prisoners and "committing
acts of deliberate humiliation and extortion."  The director of
this prison was suspended from duty in early 1994; there is no
confirmation that this action was taken as a result of these
events, and Amnesty International has not received any response
to its inquiry to date.

In an open letter published by the press in February, inmates
of Secondigliano prison claimed guards had repeatedly beaten a
prisoner during a 2-day period just before his court hearing,
and that they threatened him with further ill-treatment if he
reported the beatings to the judges; the Government has not
responded to these complaints.  In December the Naples
judiciary committed to trial 70 of the guards at this prison,
including the chief warden, on charges of ill-treatment of some
300 inmates in early 1993; the trials are scheduled to begin in
the spring of 1995.

In June six prison guards were held in preventive detention for
2 weeks and suspended from their jobs for 2 months for having
beaten a prisoner in a Monza jail.

The prison population exceeds the maximum capacity of the
nation's prisons by some 50 percent--in some prisons the
inmates number two or three times the capacity--and reportedly
there are also problems of poor sanitation and inadequate
medical assistance in prisons.  These conditions have continued
to spark numerous hunger strikes in various prisons, and
presumably were a factor prompting many of the more than 100
prison suicides in the past 2 years alone.

Legislation in August 1993 made it easier for certain
categories of offenders to receive house arrest, pending
conclusion of their trials, and to be sentenced to alternatives
to imprisonment.

The Government permits independent monitoring of prison
conditions by parliamentarians, local human rights groups, the
media, and other organizations.

     d.  Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile

The law requires police to obtain a judicial warrant in order
to make an arrest, and to lodge charges within 48 hours.  The
law limits the maximum duration of preventive or investigative
detention to 2, 4, or 6 years depending on the gravity of the
crime.  If a detainee is charged with additional offenses, the
detention can be extended beyond the original maximum
duration.  In some cases, pre-trial detention is extended when
the accused, already in detention on specific charges, is
charged with additional offenses.  This has often been the case
during "clean hands" judiciary proceedings connected to
kickbacks and corruption over government contracts, which
started in Milan in February 1992 and have since spread
throughout the country.  Politicians of all parties as well as
officials of private and public companies have been
implicated.  Each offense with which "clean hands" defendants
are charged allows a maximum preventive custody of 3 months.
Since most of the defendants are charged with more than one
offense, some have remained in jail for longer than 3 months.
In 1994 there continued to be considerable expression of public
concern about the excessive use of preventive detention,
particularly in the "clean hands" investigations, where
detention was said to be used for purposes for which it was not
intended, such as to obtain confessions or information on other
investigations.  Legislation was introduced in Parliament to
restrict the use of preventive detention.  Political parties
across the spectrum support such legislative proposals.

There is no provision for bail, but judges often grant
provisional liberty to suspects awaiting trial.  As a safeguard
against unjustified detention, panels of judges ("liberty
tribunals") review cases of persons awaiting trial and decide
whether continued detention is warranted.  Despite these
measures, as of mid-1994 over 40 percent of inmates were in
prison because they were awaiting either trial or the outcome
of an appeal, rather than because they had been convicted of an
offense.  The average waiting period for trials is about 18
months, but can exceed 24 months; preventive detention thus
sometimes runs longer than the penalty for the crime.  The
Constitution and law provide for restitution in cases of unjust
detention.

Detainees are allowed prompt and regular access to lawyers of
their choosing and to family members.  If a detainee is
indigent, the State provides a lawyer.

There are no political detainees.  Punishment by exile abroad
is not practiced, and a 1993 law prohibits domestic exile.

     e.  Denial of Fair Public Trial

The law provides for trials to be fair and public, and the
authorities observe these provisions.  Counsel is provided for
the accused, at government expense if necessary.  The law
grants defendants the presumption of innocence.  Trials are
public, and defendants have access to an attorney sufficiently
in advance to prepare a defense.  Defendants can confront
witnesses.  All government-held evidence is normally made
available to defendants and their attorneys.  Defendants can
appeal verdicts to the highest appellate court.

Although the authorities generally make good-faith efforts to
provide due process, trials frequently last years, owing to
cumbersome procedures.  A revised Code of Criminal Procedure
which took effect in 1989 sought to streamline the process, but
it has proven ineffective; the Parliament is amending it, but
progress has been slow.

The judiciary is formally autonomous and independent of the
executive.  However, there is a broad public perception that
magistrates are subject to political influence and that some
are swayed by their political biases or personal interests.
Since 1993 some 200 magistrates have come under judicial
investigation on charges of corruption, collusion, or
mafia-related crimes; so far, 13 have been arrested, of which
at least 4 have been committed to trial.

     f.  Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or
         Correspondence

The law safeguards the privacy of the home, and the authorities
respect this provision.  Searches and electronic monitoring may
be carried out only under judicial warrant and in carefully
defined circumstances.  There have been no reports of any other
kinds of violations of privacy.

Section 2  Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

     a.  Freedom of Speech and Press

The law provides for freedom of speech and press, and the
Government does not interfere with these rights.  While there
are laws against obscenity and defamation of state
institutions, they have not been enforced in the past several
years.

The public enjoys unhampered access to numerous newspapers and
magazines, and to broadcasts by several state-run radio and
television stations and by many private radio stations.

     b.  Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association

The Government does not restrict the right of peaceful assembly
except in cases where national security or public safety is
endangered.  Permits are not required for meetings, but
organizers of public demonstrations must notify the police in
advance.  Professional and employer associations organize and
operate freely.

While allowing general freedom of association, the Constitution
and law prohibit associations that are clandestine; or that
pursue political aims through paramilitary forces; or that
revive the Fascist Party; or, since a 1993 decree, that incite
racial, ethnic, national, or religious discrimination.

In May an authorized demonstration by 200 skinheads in Vicenza
provoked widespread accusations that the Government and police
were permitting a revival of Fascism.  The Interior Minister
promptly removed the city's Prefect and Chief of Police;
initiated judicial action that could lead to prosecution of all
participants in the demonstration; and banned all further
demonstrations by skinheads.  The Justice Minister and police
noted, however, that because the demonstration was peaceful,
there were scant grounds for prosecution.  The Vicenza Public
Prosecutor, while expressing the same view, requested Justice
Ministry authorization to initiate proceedings against 22
participants on charges of public defamation of the Republic;
the Justice Minister granted this authorization in December.

     c.  Freedom of Religion

The Government does not interfere with the teaching or practice
of any faith.  It subsidizes the Roman Catholic Church, the
Adventist Church, and the Assemblies of God by allowing
taxpayers to elect to designate a fixed small percentage of
their tax payment to one or another of these.  In November 1993
the Buddhist community applied for the same funding, but the
Government has not yet responded.

Roman Catholic religious instruction is offered in public
schools as an optional subject.  Those students who do not want
to attend the "hour of religion" may take an alternative
course.  Some schools allow free time as an option.

     d.  Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign
         Travel, Emigration, and Repatriation

Citizens may travel freely both within the country and abroad.
Emigration is unrestricted.  Citizens who leave are guaranteed
the right to return.  The Constitution forbids deprivation of
citizenship for political reasons.

The Government cooperates with the U.N. High Commissioner for
Refugees and other humanitarian organizations in assisting
refugees.  Italy usually does not grant asylum or permanent
refugee status; rather, applicants are granted temporary
residence permits that must be renewed periodically and that
carry no guarantee of future permanent status.  The Government
does not force applicants to return to countries in which they
presumably would face persecution, and there were no reports of
forced expulsion of any having a valid claim to refugee
status.

Section 3  Respect for Political Rights:  The Right of Citizens
           to Change Their Government

All citizens over the age of 18 have the right to vote, by
secret ballot, for the 630 members of the Chamber of Deputies.
Those over 25 have the right to vote for 315 of the 325 members
of the Senate, which also has 10 non-elected members, such as
former presidents of the Republic.  Elections must be held
every 5 years, or sooner if the President of the Republic so
orders.  The Parliament and a few representatives of regional
bodies jointly elect the President of the Republic for a 7-year
term.  The President nominates the Prime Minister, who upon
election by the Parliament selects the other ministers.

There are no restrictions in law on women's participation in
government and politics, but social restraints keep it lower
than that of men.  In 1994 women occupied 1 of 26 cabinet
positions; 29 of 325 Senate seats; and 86 of 630 in the lower
house (up from 51 in 1993), including its presidency  .

Section 4  Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
           Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations
           of Human Rights

The Government freely permits nongovernmental or international
organizations to investigate conditions in Italy and to publish
their findings.

Section 5  Discrimination Based on Race, Sex, Religion,
           Disability, Language, or Social Status

The law prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, sex
(except with regard to hazardous work--see below), religion,
ethnic background, or political opinion, and provides some
protection against discrimination based on disability,
language, or social status.  However, societal discrimination
is still evident, especially regarding sex and ethnicity.

     Women

Some laws that nominally are intended to protect women from
hazardous work keep them out of jobs that some of them--perhaps
many--are able and willing to undertake; e.g., women are not
permitted to be employed underground in quarries, mines, or
tunnels.  Also, laws notwithstanding, employers generally
continue to pay higher salaries to men than to women doing
comparable work, and to favor men over comparably qualified
women in filling jobs, particularly those in management or
likely to lead to it.  Official data indicate that only 30
percent of adult women are employed outside the home, and that
of these, only 0.1 percent hold top-level managerial positions.

Women are underrepresented also in some public-sector
professions; e.g., in the judicial branch, women account for
barely more than one-fourth of all magistrates; 10 of the 725
executive positions; 9 of the 591 middle-management positions;
and 1 of 27 presidencies of minors' courts.  Likewise, of the
27 public prosecutors in the minors' courts, only 3 are women.

A recent study found that among workers up to age 30, women are
paid on average $9,700 (equivalent) a year less than men; in
the 40-45 age bracket the disparity averages $17,400; and among
workers at the end of their careers, women earn an average
$34,200 a year as against $66,450 for men.

No law prohibits sexual harassment; and although it is
prohibited by labor agreements covering significant sectors
(such as metalworking--the leading industrial sector--and
public service), women who bring suit based on these provisions
have generally not won their cases.

Women enjoy legal equality with men in marriage and in property
and inheritance rights.

Various laws seek to protect women from physical abuse,
especially from members of their family.  Spousal rape is
legally regarded as the same as other rape.  Although there are
no reliable data on the extent of domestic violence against
women, media reports of it are common and indicate it is
widespread.  Police and judges are not reluctant to bring
perpetrators to justice, but victims often do not bring
charges, due to fear, shame, or ignorance of the law.

The Government provides a hot-line telephone service which
helps abused women obtain legal, medical, and other
assistance.  In 1994 private associations of women made several
houses available for sheltering battered women.

The media have reported a number of cases of trafficking of
women, usually involving forced prostitution.  Most of these
women are illegal immigrants, and so as a rule they do not
contact the police.  The police have made several arrests for
these offenses.

     Children

Societal abuse of children continued to be a problem.  A
nationwide, toll-free, privately financed telephone hot-line
service to help abused children receives an average of about 20
calls a day that report serious cases (along with 200 a day
that are not deemed serious).  In 1994 it began to provide
psychological assistance to minors involved in criminal
proceedings.  Social workers are authorized to take remedial or
punitive action to protect children, and they can place abused
children in family shelters.

     National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Immigrants and other foreigners continued to face widespread
societal discrimination, and some were subjected to racially
motivated attacks.

In February five skinheads on a bus beat and stabbed a Tunisian
passenger while 70 other youngsters watched; the five were
apprehended, jailed for 9 days, and sentenced to 18 months in
prison, but the sentence was suspended.

Similarly, in June nine youths on a train beat a university
student from Zaire; they were not jailed, and received
suspended sentences of 20 months.

Also in June, four skinheads attacked the Imam of the Islamic
community in a small city; they were arrested, jailed, and 10
days later were given suspended sentences of up to a year.

In July a fire of suspicious origin destroyed a shantytown that
was home to 2,200 illegal immigrants from North Africa, while
most of them were away doing their seasonal work as migratory
farm laborers.

In the most serious anti-Semitic incident, a Norwegian Jewish
woman residing in Assisi was assaulted by several youths who,
to date, have not been apprehended.

The Forum of Foreign Communities, a new entity representing
immigrants, in 1993 registered 352 incidents of violence
against 24 ethnic groups involving 504 immigrants.  Over
two-thirds of the attacks occurred in Rome, and most
perpetrators were below age 25.  Preliminary 1994 data indicate
there were slight reductions in these numbers.  The Forum has
arranged a telephone hot-line with a toll-free number to report
incidents of violence against foreigners.

The only major act of violence against Roma during the year was
a firebombing attack against a Roma encampment in Sardinia in
October by three minors and an older youth; in December the
latter was given a 6-month suspended sentence for throwing a
"Molotov cocktail" into the camp.  Firemen extinguished the
blaze before it injured anyone.  There have been sporadic
demonstrations, so far peaceful, against the establishment of
one of eight camps for Roma to be set up outside Rome.  The
first of these camps opened in December without significant
local opposition.

     People with Disabilities

A 1968 law requires almost all employers of 35 or more persons
to staff 15 percent of their workforce with disabled persons,
but as yet only about 4 percent of the employees in these firms
are disabled.

A 1971 law requires public buildings to be made accessible to
the physically handicapped, but compliance in schools and other
buildings is still not universal.

A 1992 law sets forth the rights of disabled persons, provides
for various kinds of assistance to them, imposes fines on
employers who do not comply, and authorizes the Labor
Inspectorate of the Ministry of Labor to enforce this law.
However, a seminar in February 1994 concluded that this law had
not yet significantly benefited the over 2 million permanently
disabled people in Italy because the relevant institutions were
still not equipped to implement it.

Section 6  Worker Rights

     a.  The Right of Association

The Workers' Statute of 1970 provides for the right to
establish trade unions, to join unions, and to carry out union
activities in the workplace.  Trade unions are free of
government controls, and no longer have ties with political
parties.  The Constitution provides for the right to strike,
and this right is frequently exercised.  A 1990 law restricts
strikes affecting essential public services such as transport,
sanitation, and health.

The Workers' Statute prohibits employers of more than 15
workers (or, in agriculture, more than 5) from taking
retribution against strikers other than deduction of wages for
the duration of the strike.  The Government enforces this
effectively.  Hiring of personnel to replace strikers is
effectively prohibited.

Italian unions associate freely with international trade union
organizations.

     b.  The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively

The Constitution provides for the right of workers to organize
and bargain collectively, and the Government does not hamper
this.  By custom (though not by law), national collective
bargaining agreements apply to all workers regardless of union
membership; a July 1993 accord guaranteeing this has not yet
been implemented as law.

The law prohibits discrimination by employers against union
members and organizers.  The law requires employers found
guilty of antiunion discrimination to reinstate workers fired
for union activities if the firm has more than 15 employees.  A
1990 law covering enterprises with 15 or fewer employees
encourages workers in them to join unions, and requires that
when a union member is fired, the employer must state the
grounds in writing; if the judges reject the grounds, the
employer must either reinstate or compensate the worker.

There are no export processing zones.

     c.  Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor

The law prohibits forced or compulsory labor, and it does not
occur.

     d.  Minimum Age for Employment of Children

The law provides that no child under 15 years of age may be
employed (with some specified exceptions).  The Ministry of
Labor may authorize the employment of children aged 13 or 14 on
certain jobs.  There are also specific restrictions on
employment of males under age 18, and females under age 21, in
various hazardous or unhealthful occupations.  Enforcement of
the minimum-age laws is effective only outside the extensive
"shadow" economy; a recent study concluded that some 400,000
children below age 15 are employed illegally, largely in
agriculture in southern Italy.

In August a legislative decree came into effect that provides
for more severe fines on employers who violate child-labor
laws, while it removes some minor violations from the Criminal
Code.

     e.  Acceptable Conditions of Work

Minimum wages are set not by law but rather by national
collective bargaining agreements.  These specify minimum
standards to which individual employment contracts must
conform.  When an employer and union fail to reach agreement,
the courts may step in to determine fair wages on the basis of
practice in comparable activities or agreements.

The law establishes standards for workhours, and collective
labor contracts elaborate them.  The Basic Law of 1923 provides
for a maximum workweek of 48 hours, with no more than 6 days
per week and 8 hours per day, except that the latter can be
exceeded in some specified kinds of jobs.  Most collective
agreements provide for a 36- to 38-hour workweek.  Overtime may
not exceed 2 hours per day or an average of 12 hours per week.

Basic health and safety standards and guidelines for
compensation for on-the-job injuries are set forth in an
extensive body of laws and regulations.  A legislative decree
in September incorporated into Italian law the eight European
Union Directives on Health and Safety, which had not previously
been applied in Italy.  They will take effect on various dates
in 1995 and early 1996.  Enforcement of health and safety
regulations is entrusted to labor inspectors, who are either
employees of local health units or of the Ministry of Labor and
have the same status as judicial police officers; but the
number of inspectors is too small to permit fully effective
enforcement.  The courts usually impose fines on convicted
violators, but sometimes sentence them to prison.

Because of high unemployment, there is pressure on workers to
accept unsafe conditions.  There are many substandard
workplaces (especially in the south).  Following a serious
accident in mid-1993, the Government announced it would
establish a special agency to deal with industrial accidents,
but this has not yet been done.  However, in 1994 Parliament
revised the basic legislation on such accidents so as to
provide guidelines regarding dangerous production processes.