UN to send team to Italy to scrutinise plight of migrants and refugees amid reported rise in racist attacks

The UN’s new human rights chief is to send a team to Italy to scrutinise the plight of migrants and refugees, amid a reported increase in racist attacks following the formation of a populist government in June.

Michelle Bachelet, a former president of Chile, told the UN human rights council in Geneva that she would dispatch staff to Italy “to assess the reported sharp increase in acts of violence and racism against migrants, persons of African descent and Roma (gipsies).”

The populist coalition’s decision to close Italian ports to NGO rescue vessels had had “devastating consequences” for vulnerable men, women and children, she said.

Ms Bachelet, who was imprisoned and tortured under the Pinochet regime, noted that in the absence of NGO vessels, which have found it almost impossible to operate under the new restrictions, the number of migrants dying at sea had sharply risen.

Matteo Salvini, Italy’s combative interior minister, has been accused of fomenting intolerance and hatred towards migrants with his uncompromising rhetoric.

There have been a number of incidents since the coalition’s election in June, including Italians shooting at groups of black Africans with air rifles, including one case in which the assailants yelled “Salvini, Salvini”.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/09/10/un-send-team-italy-scrutinise-plight-migrants-refugees-amid/