The Human Rights Commissioner of the Council of Europe (CE) is due to begin a three-day visit to Italy on Tuesday in a follow-up review of the effect of recent government measures regarding immigrants and Roma gypsies.
Thomas Hammarberg will meet with interior and foreign ministry undersecretaries, the Senate committee for human rights and representatives of immigrant and Roma organisations during his visit.
He is also expected to visit two Roma gypsy camps in the capital.
In July Hammarberg slammed the Italian government for laws cracking down on illegal immigrants and unauthorised gypsy camps following a visit to the country in June.
In a 20-page report, Hammarberg said that the measures ignored ''human rights and humanitarian principles'' and warned that they could ''spur further xenophobia'' in Italy.
He criticised the government's failure to guarantee the safety of its immigrant communities and hit out at what he described as the government's ''repeated recourse to emergency legislative measures'' to cope with problems linked to immigration.
He concluded his report by warning the government to ''apply all necessary measures'' to prevent infringements of the European Convention on Human Rights.
The Italian interior ministry replied by describing the report as ''totally unfounded'' and said government measures did not target any ethnic group but were aimed at ''curbing criminal behaviour by individuals''.
