http://www.repubblica.it/solidarieta/diritti-umani/2014/04/22/news/eritrea_due_generazioni_di_meticci_con_sangue_italiano_senza_riconoscimento_di_paternit-84205632/
Eritrea, two generations of "mestizos" with Italian blood without acknowledgment of paternity
The long ordeal of the descendants of Italians arrived in the Horn of Africa during the 70 years of colonial rule in our country, 1885-1941. Economic conditions do not allow to deal with legal costs abroad: the average income is 20 euro month. The broken promises Policy
VITTORIO Longhi, April 22, 2014
MASSAWA - Twenty years later, the descendants of Italians in Eritrea return to apply for citizenship. Any appeal to the institutions and policy so far has remained unheeded. They are the children and grandchildren of Italians went to the Horn of Africa during the colonial period and then returned, leaving two generations without acknowledgment of paternity.
Only 80 have reached the goal. Among them is the Savior Crispi, who was born in Asmara in 1985, exactly a century after the first Italian soldiers landed in the port of Massawa and proclaimed the colony of Eritrea. My grandfather's name was Joseph Salvatore, apparently came from the province of Rome and - says the grandson - died young, before he could officially give the first name to his son Fioravante. The first applications for citizenship were presented at the end of the 90s, after the 1992 law that grants the right even to the descendants "in a straight line of the second degree." Hundreds of Italo-Eritreans have started the practice, but so far those who have obtained the documents are only 80, or who had very detailed information on the origins of his father. Since then, these stories have been almost forgotten. Even today - the Italian consulate in Asmara confirmation - there are more than 300 pending requests, demands that the embassy sent to
Italy and then there are stops. The case of Eritrea. Elsewhere with descendants of Italian, such example in Latin America, just instruct a lawyer to find data and documentim, or go to Italy and do the research yourself. In the case of Eritrea this is almost impossible. Economic conditions do not allow to deal with legal expenses abroad (the average income is about 20 Euros per month). Even more difficult is to leave the country, because the majority of Eritreans can not have a passport. At 17, after school, you will be recruited for military service of 18 months in the base of Sawa, then remains at the disposal of the government, for national service , with different tasks and a token salary. Under the pretext of perpetual conflict to the border with Ethiopia, the government imposes a military service indefinitely, for men and women, often up to 50 years. It is not a coincidence that every year thousands of boys and girls decide to cross the borders
with Sudan and rely on traffickers in an attempt to reach Europe or the Middle East, risking their lives, as is well known. Promises of politicians. In this scenario, the descendants of Italians would at least be able to move freely and safely. To support their cause has always been a Capuchin missionary, Father Protasio Dolphins. The son of an Italian soldier and an Eritrean woman, he also had to fight a long time with the bureaucracy to obtain citizenship. "The problem was never with the Eritrean authorities, but with the Italian government, which blocks the questions once you arrive in Rome," says father Protasio. In fact, if you do not have reliable data on the town of origin of the father, the application will automatically turn the city of Rome, where, however, is not followed. Yet, in recent years, several politicians have promised to commit to finding a solution. Oscar Luigi Scalfaro was in Asmara by the President of the Republic in 1997 and
after him Gianfranco Fini, leader of the National Alliance in 2001. Was also advanced a bill to facilitate the recognition in 1999 by the then deputy Pasquale Julian, Forza Italy. The text has been assigned to the Committee on Constitutional Affairs, but there it was, even without being examined. colonial racism and sexism. should be noted that the non-admission of paternity in Eritrea has some historical reasons. Mixed marriages were permitted by the Italian government until the advent of fascism. From 1933 it was claimed the "defense of the prestigious race in front of the Italian natives of Africa" and was prohibited from recognizing fathers of their children "mestizos". A real war against "the scourge of miscegenation," a persecution of the small Italo-Eritreans, contemptuously called dqala , you bastard, and forced to live on the margins of the two companies and two cultures. In the 70 years of the Italian presence (1885-1941) were born at
least 15 thousand children from these unions and in many cases they were the sons of men already married in Italy. While customary law Tigrinya mother had the right to indicate the name of the father, even if already married, in Italy all this was not possible until the reform of family law in 1975. "For the Eritreans, the encounter with Italian legislation was traumatic - notes the historic Giulia Barrera - not capacitavano how Italians could allow fathers to abandon their children and, even more, the incomprehensible how the children could be prevented from bringing his father's name " .
(Software translation)
Received on Tue Apr 22 2014 - 13:36:53 EDT