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Told to Move On: forced evictions of Roma in France. Amnesty International, September 2013, Index: EUR 21/007/2013, pp. 54.
Racism and fascism
Told to Move On: forced evictions of Roma in France. Amnesty International, September 2013, Index: EUR 21/007/2013, pp. 54.
01 February 2014
French President François Hollande condemned forced evictions in last year’s presidential election campaign, but since coming to power his government has adopted measures regulating evictions from informal settlements (including an August 2012 Inter-ministerial circular on social assistance for evictions affecting “unauthorised” settlements, with options for dismantling operations). Funds have been made available to finance social assistance projects related to the eviction of settlements and squats and consultations with the local NGOs and authorities are ongoing. This Amnesty report finds that migrant Roma are still being subjected to forced evictions, and are “… repeatedly chased out of their living spaces without being adequately consulted, informed or rehoused, in breach of France’s international commitments.” No safeguards to prevent forced evictions have been put in place and “the measures taken by the government so far are insufficient to remedy this violation of international human rights law.” Surveys carried out by the Ligue des Droits de l’Homme and the European Roma Rights Centre recorded 11,982 migrant Roma being driven out of squats as a result of eviction by the authorities, fire, accident or attack in 2012. This number increased sharply in the first two quarters of 2013, reaching 10,174, and during July and August 3,746 Roma were evicted in 39 eviction operations; temporary housing solutions were offered in only 19 cases. The report notes that the evictions occur against a background of “discrimination and hostility” exacerbated by “comments made by political leaders and published in scurrilous press articles, as well as from several attacks and assaults by local residents.” The report says: “The inhabitants of informal settlements, most of whom are migrant Roma, live in degrading conditions and experience a worsening of their situation as a result of forced evictions which render them all the more vulnerable. Evictions often leave these families and individuals homeless because they are not offered any alternative accommodation, and sometimes the solutions found are inadequate because they are temporary or unsuitable. As a consequence, they are often forced to go and settle elsewhere on land where they can once again put up makeshift shacks to live in until the next eviction. Such repeated evictions often interrupt schooling and health care and can leave people more vulnerable to other human rights violations.”
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From Pillar to Post: Pan-European racism and the Roma. Liz Fekete, European Research Programme Briefing Paper No.7, Institute of Race Relations, July 2013, pp. 12.
This report fails to find any evidence for systemic change following the introduction of the 2011 EU Framework for National Roma Integration Strategies at a time when Roma are particularly vulnerable due to “severe economic depression, rising nationalism and weak unprincipled governance.” Fekete argues that nativism - “the policy of protecting the interests of native-born or established inhabitants against those of immigrants” – is “the guiding principle in establishing residence rights and restricting welfare at a time of austerity” The briefing paper examines the situation in southern Europe (Greece and Italy), Eastern and Central Europe (Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic) and western and northern Europe (France and the EU). The paper draws the conclusion that the current onslaught against the Roma leaves them as de facto stateless.
Download from: http://www.irr.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/ERP_BP7_Pillar_to_post.pdf
Report on Metropolitan Police Service Handling of Complaints Alleging Race Discrimination. Independent Police Complaints Commission, July 2013, pp. 42.
This report by the IPCC reaches the conclusion that the Metropolitan police is failing to effectively handle complaints against officers who face allegations of racism and calls for a “cultural change” in the way the force deals with such complaints. The review monitored more than 60 referrals made by the Met between 1 April and 31 May 2012 and carried out a statistical analysis of all Met complaints during 2011-2012, reviewing a sample of 20 of them. IPCC commissioner, Jennifer Izekor, said: “This report shows that, though there are some examples of good practice, in general there is an unwillingness or inability to deal with these complaints robustly and effectively. Too often they are dismissed without proper investigation or resolution, complainants are not properly engaged with, and lessons are not learnt.”
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The Greek State must send a clear message against racist violence. Racist Violence Recording Network Press Release, 25 September 2013, pp. 2
The RVRN, which comprises 33 NGOs and other civil society actors, has been monitoring racist attacks against refugees and migrants in Greece since it was formed by the National Commission for Human Rights and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in October 2011. This press release, which follows the murder of anti-Fascist rapper Pavlos Fyssas (aka Killah P) by Golden Dawn supporters on 18 September, records “more than 300 incidents of racist violence.” Noting that the rapper’s killers have been “training on the bodies of immigrants for three years,” the press release stresses that Golden Dawn’s victims “report the inability or unwillingness of prosecuting authorities to conduct sufficient investigation and arrests” and underlines that such “impunity” triggers the escalation of racist attacks and perpetuates violence. The Network calls on the authorities to take all necessary measures for the arrest and conviction of those involved in acts of violence motivated by hatred or racism and reiterates its calls for the protection of victims (and witnesses) of violent racist acts and for the investigation of a racial motive at the preliminary stages of investigation.
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