We are happy to share with you great news from Bologna!
A joint project by the Municipality of Bologna and 28 civil society organisations launched on December 14th
On Tuesday 14th December, the SPAD Anti-Discrimination Help Center has opened at the Zonarelli Intercultural Centre. The Help Center will specialise on dealing with racial, ethnic, religious, and origin-based discrimination, whether "direct" or "indirect". It will focus on multiple and intersectional forms of discrimination, notwithstanding its role directing people towards local services dedicated to other discrimination factors, with which the Help Center is in constant dialogue.
The Help Center aims to guide people who are victims or witnesses of discrimination, whether actual or perceived, by taking on the reports and assessing the most appropriate solutions: liasing with the discriminating agent, intercultural, interpersonal and conflict mediation, as well as legal, psychological and emotional support.
The Help Center will also promote information and training sessions aimed at a wider audience of people, as well as an Observatory. On the basis of the analysis and elaboration of the reports received, the Help Center Observatory will draft policy recommendations aimed at responding to the identified needs, for example on recurrent discriminations for which it is necessary to intervene in a structural manner.
The SPAD Help Center staff counts 35 operators, five of which are municipal staff while the other thirty come from civil society organisations, such foreign or intercultural associations of that are registered with the Zonarelli Center, members of the local anti-discrimination network, associations specialised in legal support and protection in the field of anti-discrimination, and associations that offer cultural mediation, public services orientation or psychological support with an intercultural approach. The Help Center staff was trained on issues of anti-discrimination, listening and support to both potential victims and witnesses of discrimination.
For the coordination of the individual functions of the Help Center, the Municipality is collaborating with the following associations: Interculturale Universo for “Listening and guidance”; Diversa/mente for “Victims support”; Africa e Mediterraneo for “Information and awareness campaigns”; COSPE for the “Discrimination Observatory”. In addition, ASGI entered the partnership as legal consultants for cases characterized by greater complexity. The Help Center will also liaise with municipal services agents and other local subjects on individual matters.
The service adds to the activities already carried out on the subject by the Anti-discrimination Network, coordinated by the New Citizenship, Cooperation and Human Rights Office of the Municipality of Bologna together with the Metropolitan City. SPAD aims to consolidate the existing activities and better connect them with public and third sector entities, which interface in their daily work with the concrete challenges faced by people with migratory experience or foreign origin, who often do not reach anti-discrimination services. Since 2016, the year the Anti-Discrimination Network consolidated - the office received only a few reports each year, while the research carried out by international organizations and local contacts suggest that discriminatory behaviors and acts may be more numerous, but not reported or recorded. The most reliable source of data is the ODIHR/OSCE Observatory which publishes an international report yearly, however it focuses on hate crimes and not the broader scope of discrimination. The latest data, from 2018, shows an increasing trend in reported crimes, going from 472 reported crimes in 2013 to 1,111 in 2018. The partial data for 2019 shows 969 discriminatory crimes, recording a slight turnaround. The data provided is disaggregated on the basis of three motives: xenophobia / racism, sexual orientation and gender identity, and disability. This breakdown highlights a clear prevalence of racist and xenophobic crimes, which increased from 194 reported in 2013 (41.1% of the total), to 726 recorded in 2019 (74.9% of the total).
In continuity with the Local Plan for Anti-discrimination and Human Rights-based Public Administration (2018-2021) and in line with the European Strategy against Racism (2020-2025), which recognizes a key role for cities and city networks, (including ECCAR, of which Bologna holds the presidency), the idea was born of establishing a physical place in Bologna which, in addition to offering structured and timely support to potential victims of discrimination, could also constitute a place for dialogue and structured comparison with the various stakeholders present in the city, including the anti-discrimination network, the associations of the Zonarelli Center, local public services - in particular in the social, health, educational, housing, cultural, transport sectors - ASP, social centers, trade unions, and law enforcement agencies.
The experimental phase of the Help Center will last 11 months and is financed in the areas of training and awareness-raising by the Emilia-Romagna Region through funds disbursed annually to the local anti-discrimination nodes, and for the remaining activities by the Municipality of Bologna.
The partner organizations are: A.C.A., A.I.P.I.L.V., Africa e Mediterraneo, AMISS, Aprimondo, Arca di Noè, Arte Migrante, ASGI, Avvocato di strada, Cassero, CDH, Cospe, Diversa/mente, Grande Colibrì, Associazione Interculturale Universo, Ma2ta Persia, MIT, Mondo Donna Onlus, Associazione Ndiba, Next Generation Italy, One World, Raggi di Sole, Sconfinamenti Aps, Sonrisas Andinas, Spazio pace ODV, Trama di terre, Vietnam - Italia / Ponte tra culture, Yadin Wahida, Associazione Xenia.
For more information, email interculturalezonarelli@comune.bologna.it or visit http://www.comune.bologna.it/centrozonarelli/spad-sportello-antidiscriminazioni/
