An association for foreigners' rights is calling on Italian national authorities and Roman local authorities to take over the responsibility of a former penicillin factory currently occupied by migrants, where recently a fire broke out.
The Roman association Alterego - Fabbrica dei Diritti (Factory of Rights) is calling for the evacuation of the building and for the provision of adequate housing for the occupants, who it said are living in inhumane conditions.
According to the association, a fire broke out on May 16 in a former penicillin factory building in Rome currently occupied by migrants, refugees and asylum seekers, and that the fire "destroyed part of the building where occupants had built makeshift housing".
The association said it has being providing support to the occupants of the building for some time now. Following the fire, despite the fact that no one was injured, the association said in a post on its Facebook page that the migrants occupying the building are living in "inhumane conditions". It is calling on authorities to intervene to evacuate the structure and to provide adequate housing to the occupants.
Situation violates human rights
"Some of the migrants even lost personal belongings and documents following the fire," the association said on its Facebook page. It posted some photos of the former penicillin factory, which is located on the outskirts of the Italian capital.
"For weeks we have been denouncing the inhumane and degrading conditions in which about 600 people are forced to live in the former factory, amid asbestos, piles of rubbish, toxic waste, and frequent fires, which do nothing other than worsen the already precarious situation," it said. "We believe it is necessary to highlight how this situation of serious human rights violations taking place on Via Tiburtina 1040 calls for the immediate taking up of responsibility on the part of all the relevant institutions, by providing for an evacuation - not the umpteenth damaging eviction - of the building and taking charge of all the people present".
Migrants extremely vulnerable
The Roman association, which published a report less than a month ago on the living conditions in the structure, said, "All the occupants are put in a situation of extreme vulnerability, caused above all by the inhumane conditions in which they find themselves forced to live. Therefore, all of them require the provision of dignified housing solutions".
The organization said the "mega-ghetto on Via Tiburtina 1040 was created due to the progressive evictions of smaller informal occupations that for months have been taking place in the Tor Cervara district" on the outskirts of Rome."There are precise institutional responsibilities in terms of keeping hundreds of people in a condition of marginality," it said. "For once we could try to nail down the institutions to their responsibility," it said.