The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe has adopted a new recommendation which calls on the 47 Member States to include the history of the Sinti and Roma linguistic minorities in school curricula and teaching materials. The new recommendation is adopted twenty years after Recommendation 4/2000 still not implemented in Italy today.
The CM Recommendation/Rec(2020)2 focuses on the fight against anti-Gypsyism, in fact the prejudices and stereotypes present in school staff are one of the most obvious causes of the school failure of Sinti and Roma minors and of the perpetuation in Italian society of racist ideas towards people belonging to the linguistic minority . Italy is the European country with the highest level of anti-Gypsyism in the whole European Union.
For this reason, the Council of Europe considers it essential to include the history of the minority and the contribution made by Sinti and Roma to the local, national and European historical and cultural heritage in teaching.
History is an effective tool to combat hatred, discrimination and prejudice, radicalization and denial of Porrajmos, the attempted genocide suffered by Sinti and Roma during fascism and Nazism. The Council of Europe deems it necessary to introduce Porrajmos and the most significant Italian anniversaries such as Remembrance Day in programming and textbooks but also, for example, 11 September, the date of the internment order for all Italian Sinti and Roma in special concentration camps.
The Council of Europe considers it equally necessary to introduce positive elements into teaching such as the active role played by members of the minority in the struggle for liberation from Nazi-fascism in Italy and throughout Europe.
The introduction of these themes into school programming as well as the contribution given to Italian culture would help to make people understand that people belonging to the minority are an integral and interacting part of society.