MILAN, Italy, Nov. 8 (UPI) -- A Human Rights Watch report Thursday condemned an emergency decree in Italy ordering the expulsion of citizens from Romania.
Human Rights Watch said an Oct. 21 decree by the Italian government ordering the immediate expulsion of foreign nationals from EU countries violated international human rights laws, a news release from the group said Thursday.
The Human Rights Watch report said the Italian government is targeting Romanians who comprise Italy’s largest minority group.
"Romanians are the real target of this expulsion decree, not EU nationals in general," said Judith Sunderland, EU researcher at Human Rights Watch.
Romanians of Roma origin allegedly killed an Italian woman marking a high-water mark in racial tensions there. Italian officials, who blamed the Romanian community for a series of crimes, razed the Roma district where the alleged suspect lived.
The Human Rights Watch report highlighted several incidents in which Romanians were allegedly the subject of racially motivated assaults.
Italian officials said the move is justified to "prevent the terrible tiger of xenophobia" from ravaging the country.
"If the government is serious about curbing xenophobia, it needs to lead by example," Sunderland said.
