A/HRC/4/19/Add.4 page 17 38. According to the NGO community, the discrimination these communities are facing is institutionalized and manifests itself in various forms. Firstly, among the Roma and Sinti born in Italy, an important number still lack Italian citizenship despite having been born to parents of Italian origin. These Roma are de facto stateless and should, in the view of civil society, receive especial attention from the Government and be the subject of special provisions within the citizenship law and other relevant legislation for their regularization and acquisition of citizenship. In this regard, NGOs noted with concern that the recent draft citizenship law, despite its positive aspects, would not offer any solution. 39. Second - and in contrast to other linguistic minorities - Roma and Sinti remain unrecognized as a minority, lacking the recognition and protection of their language and culture, concerning which there is scant knowledge. Roma and Sinti are not considered by the authorities to fit the ad hoc definition of a national minority, particularly as they do not (or are not perceived to) live in well-defined areas of settlement and do not conform to the traditional profile of a territorially concentrated national minority. Additionally, Roma foreign citizens are said to benefit to a lesser extent than other groups from regularization processes and face more difficulties in accessing the regular labour market due to their double condition of being Roma and immigrants. There is no comprehensive law, policy or institution dealing with the Roma and Sinti community addressing their specificity, nor have they so far been included in the National Plan against Poverty and Social Exclusion as a beneficiary group. 40. Third, they are the ethnic group facing the heaviest discrimination in housing, education and health as well as employment and suffer from racist violence.27 Up to one third of the Roma and Sinti population live segregated from the rest of the society in authorized or unauthorized camps in prefabricated houses or caravans, often in poor conditions and without security of tenure, access to drinking water, electricity, heating and sanitation, insulation and ventilation, etc. Moreover, associations highlighted that these camps are often subject to abusive police raids, during which the members of these communities are exposed to verbal abuse. Regarding their access to education, Roma children, like all other children, have the right and duty to attend compulsory education irrespective of their legal status. Reports have highlighted the difficulties concerning the integration of Roma children at school and the occurrence of incidents of bias and discrimination. In the view of the NGOs working in this field, authorities need to systematically address the high dropout rate of Roma children, particularly girls forced into early marriage and domestic work at home, by replacing the current ad hoc projects with comprehensive long-term programmes involving the families, schools, police and local authorities. Lack of employment is identified as one of the major problems affecting the Roma and Sinti community. Much needs to be accomplished in the areas of housing, unemployment, education and health care. 27 See European Network Against Racism (ENAR) 2006 Shadow Report, pp. 18, 21-23 and European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) 2006 Report on Italy, pp. 27-28.