Common types of discrimination in Italy 2019

In a 2019 survey, Italian respondents believed that discrimination against Roma people was the most widespread type of discrimination in Italy. More specifically, 79 percent of interviewees shared this belief. Moreover, 69 percent of respondents affirmed that discriminations related to sexual orientation and skin color were also widespread in Italy. Nevertheless, half of the Italian interviewees declared that society would not gain any benefits from a better integration of the Roma population.

Discrimination in everyday life

  In 2019, only 38 percent of Italian respondents declared to be comfortable with a Roma colleague with whom they would be in daily contact at work. Additionally, transgender colleagues represented the second group with whom Italian interviewees declared they would feel the less comfortable with. The third most common discrimination in job search in Italy was thought to be faced by the Roma minority. For instance, 36 percent of respondents thought that belonging to this ethnic minority was a disadvantage for candidates.

Measures against discrimination

Despite the widespread discrimination, 33 percent of respondents in Italy believed that the efforts made in the country to fight discrimination were moderately effective. In October 2019, the Italian Senate voted in favor of the establishment of an Extraordinary Commission to combat all forms of racism, anti-Semitism, incitement to hatred, and violence. The Commission was proposed by Senator Liliana Segre, a Holocaust survivor. Thus, the committee was also given the name of "Segre Commission". According to a survey of November 2019, 59 percent of Italian interviewees were in favor of this committee.