Roma kids to get citizenship

Milan, July 21 - All children born in Italy's gypsy camps will be given 'humanitarian' citizenship, Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said Monday. Maroni, who has launched a controversial scheme to fingerprint camp occupants, said ''it is the primary right of a kid, any kid, to have an identity''. Many of the children in the camps have never been registered as citizens even though they were born in Italy, he noted. Maroni, a leading member of the rightwing Northern League, defended himself from charges of discriminating against Roma. ''We have to safeguard (the children). What we are doing is right and fair. There are people living in sub-human conditions in these camps''. Maroni said the fate of the children in the camps was often ''tragic'' and ''some of them are used in organ trafficking''. The minister reiterated that the... [read full story]