French policies towards Travellers and Roma migrants

Alert DateJuly 28, 2010 Country: France General Type: Discrimination Racism and discrimination phenomena: Anti-roma/zinghanophobia
Groups affected / Interested in: Roma & Travelers Key socio-economic/institutional areas: Employment - labour market, Housing, Health and social protection, Education, Political participation Hate speech/Racist Discourse Medium: Newspaper
Victims Data
Victims Nationality/Ethnic Origin N/A
Victims Gender N/A
Victims Age N/A
Victims Number N/A
Fatalities - deaths N/A
Perpetrators Data
Perpetrators Nationality/Ethnic Origin French
Perpetrator Gender N/A
Perpetrator Age N/A
Perpetrators Number N/A
Extremist/Organised Group Violence No

The French authorities announced on 28 July 2010 the dismantling of 300 illegal encampments in France within three months and a reform of existing French law in order to enable a more efficient process of dismantling. Following this plan, 441 illegal encampments had been dismantled since the beginning of August. Under the ministry circular dated August 5 Roma migrants were explicitly established as a priority for the camps evictions. It is thus established that Roma migrants face direct discrimination from the current French authorities. Travellers, most of them being French citizens, are also subject to stigmatizing processes. Therefore, Roma migrants as well as Travellers are today particular vulnerable groups amongst French society and are exposed to the danger of suffering many violations of their most fundamental rights, at first in the housing area, but also in other related areas like access to employment, health care, education and political rights.

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