Rights panel chides Paris on Roma

Watches Rights panel chides Paris on Roma


STRASBOURG, France—Europe's top human rights watchdog accused France on Tuesday of stigmatizing Roma people by blaming them for crime and expelling them from the country.

The panel, the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance, has repeatedly cautioned France about racism against Roma, also known as Gypsies, and urged the country to respect the rights of migrants from the minority.

In a report in June, the commission urged Paris "to combat the racist attitudes and hostility harbored by the majority population vis-a-vis this community."

In 2005, the panel asked France to ensure "Roma migrants' social rights to housing, health and education."

But matters have only worsened, the panel said in a statement.

This summer French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced a crackdown on Roma as part of a larger "war" on delinquency. The practice of giving each Gypsy a few hundred euros (dollars) and flying them to their Romanian homeland is widely seen as discriminatory.

In recent weeks, French police have dismantled dozens of illegally installed Gypsy camps and flown the dwellers to Romania.

Referring to that action, the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance said: "High-ranking officials have made political statements and the government has taken action stigmatizing Roma migrants. The latter are held collectively responsible for criminal offenses and singled out for abusing EU legislation on freedom of movement."

The rights panel said that while France may impose immigration controls, it questioned the draconian response by French officials to many Roma migrants.

"EU citizens have the right to be on French territory for certain periods of time and to return there. France should look for sustainable solutions in cooperation with partner states and institutions," said the panel.

Coppied by http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2010/08/24/rights_panel_chides_paris_on_roma/

Poverty forces Roma to leave Bulgaria and Romania

Saw this Poverty forces Roma to leave Bulgaria and Romania

AFP/File – A Roma woman is questioned by French police officers at a Roma community on August 19, 2010 in Aix-en-Provence,

BUCHAREST (AFP) – Europe's Roma communities, at the centre of an immigration row in France, are often driven out by poverty from their homes in Romania and Bulgaria, the European Union's two most impoverished members.
"Here we are like vagabonds. We don't have work, we have nothing," said Gheorghe Ion, one of the Roma repatriated to Bucharest by France as part of a government crackdown on illegal Gypsy camps that some have labelled racist and xenophobic.
Another Romanian Roma, or Gypsy, who left the French city of Grenoble with his family told AFP: "We will stay home if we find work but it's difficult because this country (Romania) is poorer" than France.
Romania has been hit with one of the worst recessions in the 27-nation EU bloc since 2009.
The economy is expected to contract again this year and the government has to take drastic austerity measures, including cutting public sector salaries by 25 percent, to meet IMF conditions for a loan.
Many Romanians, not just Roma, have been forced to try their luck abroad, most heading for Spain and Italy, and some for France.
Most the Roma who migrate come from the very poor rural communities, where there are huge problems in education and infrastructure, said Mihai Neacsu, director of the Roma rights organisation Amare Rromentza.
They however account for a small part of the estimated 530,000 to 2.5 million Roma living in Romania.
Elsewhere in Europe, Bulgaria has between 700,000 to 800,000 Roma, according to non-governmental organisations, or 350,000 according to the national census.
Up to about 450,000 Roma live in Serbia and between 350,000 to 530,000 in Slovakia, according to European figures.
In Bulgaria, 50,000 Roma are believed to have left the country in the last five years, often clandestinely, for Italy, Spain, Greece and Germany, according to Ilona Tomova, a researcher at the Bulgarian sciences academy.
Besides poverty, Roma suffer from rejection by some Bulgarians who see them as thieves and ignorant, according to a 2009 study.
The antipathy is replicated in Romania where a government study in 2009 found that seven out of 10 people would not want a Roma as part of their family.
Both the Romanian and Bulgarian governments have launched programmes to improve access for Romas to education and health care and to help them fight discrimination in the workplace.
Romania, with European funding, has launched six programmes for some 22 million euros (28 million dollars) including schooling for young Romas and a chance for drop-outs to resume their studies.
But NGOs say much more in needed -- a view endosed by Bucharest which has also called for a Europe-wide plan to address the needs of the Roma minority.
Coppied by http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100821/wl_afp/romaniabulgariafranceminorityrightsimmigration

We are see the First wave of transfers in mass repatriation of Roma

Watches this enjoy First wave of transfers in mass repatriation of Roma

FRANCE SENT dozens of Roma on flights home to Romania yesterday in the first mass repatriation since French president Nicolas Sarkozy unveiled a crackdown on crime, a move condemned by human rights groups.

Some 60 Roma left on a chartered plane from Lyon and about a dozen boarded a flight from Paris, the first wave of transfers in a campaign to send 700 people living in squalid camps across France back to Romania and Bulgaria by the end of the month.

Following riots in two French cities last month, Mr Sarkozy ordered 300 illegal camps of Roma dismantled. The move came as part of a crime crackdown targeting immigrants the government blames for a rise in violent crime in France’s poor suburbs.

Roma who agree to leave receive €300 and an additional €100 for each of their children.

The French government says the departures are all voluntary, though some Roma say they were coerced to leave and many are vowing to return to France.

“I want to return. It’s much easier there. Here we don’t have any chance, no jobs, nothing,” Ovidiu, a thin man of 23 from the western Romanian city of Oradea on the border with Hungary, said after arriving at Bucharest.

France repatriated some 10,000 Roma last year and other European countries, including Germany, Italy, Denmark and Sweden have taken similar steps.

But the latest deportations have gained more attention and some French politicians, including a deputy in the president’s UMP party, have likened the raids on Roma camps to the round-up of Jews in Nazi-occupied France.

Others have accused Mr Sarkozy of waging a cynical campaign to distract voters from an illegal donations scandal and high unemployment that have dogged his government and pushed his personal ratings near record lows.

Romanian foreign minister Teodor Baconschi told French radio that he was worried France’s campaign could spark “xenophobic reactions”. The European Commission has said it is scrutinising the situation to ensure France does not violate bloc rules.

The French government says it has a right to counter the influx of Roma, many of whom beg on street corners and live in camps under atrocious conditions. Many experts question the effectiveness of the French plan, arguing it is a waste of resources as nothing will prevent those who have received cash from returning.
Coppied by http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2010/0820/1224277228587.html