It is selling apartments, but not to immigrants
The Italian Post Office has been accused of racism against immigrants. The Post Office is currently auctioning apartments in Brescia, Ferrara, Novara, Taranto, Vercelli and Verona, but it seems that it doesn’t want to sell them to immigrants. In order to bar immigrants from buying the apartments, the Post Office requires all the clients to be Italian citizens.
The CGIL Trade Union in Brescia and the Associazione Studi Giuridici sull’Immigrazione hold that this is a discriminatory act because the Immigration Law clearly states that immigrants living legally in Italy have the same rights are Italian citizens when it comes to accessing public housing.
They have therefore reported the case to the National Office against Racial Discrimination (UNAR).
Mr. Felice Belisario, Chief Whip of the Italia dei Valori party in the Senate has raised the issue in the Senate describing the Post Office’s decision to bar immigrants from buying the apartments as “intolerable discrimination”. It is a clear racist act which must be immediately addressed, Senator Belisario said.
The Post Office makes a lot of money from immigrants through its money transfer and banking services, as well as through handling applications for renewal of Permits of Stay. It in fact earns 30 Euros from each application for renewal of the Permit of Stay.
By Stephen Ogongo Ongong’a
