Rome - An Italian government proposal to record the finger- prints of ethnic Roma children has drawn widespread criticism including from Catholic officials.

"Children should not be criminalized and they should not be subjected to police procedures," the head of Catholic charity Caritas, Monsignor Vittorio Nozza, said in a interview published Friday by Rome-based daily, La Repubblica.

The proposal, which Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's conservative government intends to introduce as part of a package of security laws, is a "violation of fundamental rights," according to the United Nation Children's Fund (UNICEF) office in Italy.

But Interior Minister Roberto Maroni has staunchly defended the measure, describing it as a way to obtain information on the number of Roma children living in "indecent conditions" in shanty settlements throughout Italy.

A "civilized country cannot accept to see minors dividing their living space with rats," Maroni said.

"I want children to live a normal life in decent conditions without being forced into begging or even worse things," he added.

"A census to establish the number of children in the cities is a good thing, but we absolutely disagree on the taking of fingerprints," European Council for Roma Activity and Rights representative, Henry Scicluna, said.

Surveys suggest many Italians associate the Roma with increasing levels of crime.

Late last year the previous centre-left government expelled over 200 Romanian nationals with criminal records in the wake of the murder, allegedly by a Roma man of Romanian origin, of a housewife in Rome. (dpa)