here - Cooperazione Italiana allo Sviluppo

eduction of the presences on the street, registered by the social operators, can beimputed to Art. 18. The sure element is that the trials made by victims bringing acharge have contributed to the increase of arrests and therefore to create problemsfor the organisations.Serious support to the actions based on the incentive on the part of the victimsto report cannot but impress major incisiveness to fight.The sensitive change in the policies represented by the Law Bossi-Fini and theconsequent increase in resorting to round-ups, centres of permanence, expulsion,have rendered the picture more complex. The increased attention by the policetowards the phenomenon of prostitution on the street is not always accompanied asit was hoped by an increase in the collaboration in the application of Article 18.In the words of many social operators, there emerge expressions of concern forthe policy of expulsion which risks weakening the possibility of access of thevictims to exit paths. On the one hand, the round-ups have made the organisationdistribute the victims more widely over the territory, with the consequence that“the women are more dispersed in the province, they work less in-groups and arealways more difficult to contact” (Associazione Tampep - Turin). On the otherhand, the policy of “cleaning the streets” has generated a major difficulty in therelations of collaboration between the social operators and the police.“Before it often happened that they [the police, Ed.] asked us to mediate and tostart the discussions, when they considered that there were perhaps people heldthat maybe needed Art. 18, because particularly motivated, or because it could beuseful with regard to a series of complaints (…). In the last period however, afterthe Bossi-Fini law, this did not happen, they repatriate them immediately and theydo not contact us” (Associazione On the Road - Martinsicuro).“For example only yesterday evening a girl who has a decree of expulsionpending but went to the lawyer to make a request for a permission to stay becauseshe had filed a report, was arrested immediately, and the police said «Excuse usbut we must arrest». The climate has changed” (Associazione On The Road -Martinsicuro).Among the themes strongly felt by the social operators, there is therefore stillthe necessity to improve the relations of active collaboration with the institutionalorganisms: first among these are the Questure (local State Police offices) andProsecutors. Four years since the application of the new norms, nearly everywherethere has been much progress in the collaboration between the institutions, on theone hand, and associations, religious entities, NGOs, on the other; however there isno homogeneity between the different local contexts and all over there is thepossibility to improve.In the case of victims filing a report, the major slowness and uncertainty of thetime required for the proceedings has emerged in the Prosecution Offices of largedimensions (Turin, Milan, Rome, Naples) compared to those of small dimensions(Novara, Rimini, Caserta). In the first because of the work load, the criminalproceedings are often longer and therefore can cause delays in receiving theopinion of the Police. The length of the process pushes back in time the moment in