Gypsies and Travellers

René Cassin has recently launched a new campaign against discrimination facing Gypsy and Traveller communities.  We have a number of educational programmes and initiatives being developed and will keep you informed as our campaign progresses.  To read our Campaign Policy Paper, please click here.

The link between our Gypsy and Traveller Campaign and our Mission

The Gypsy and Traveller communities, together with Jews, were victims of the Holocaust.  Both communities have experienced persecution, hostility and racism for centuries. It is reprehensible that Gypsy and Traveller communities continue to suffer such inequalities in the present day, despite recent legislation designed to promote equality and human rights and protect against discrimination. Our motivation is to correct the injustices currently being wrought against those communities whose history of human rights violations we sadly share.

Please refer to our Campaign Policy Paper and the paper ‘Applying the Lessons of the Holocaust: 1938-2008, Kristallnacht Seventy Years Later’ by Ian Hancock (18 November 2008), which provides a useful historical background to this point.

Inequalities Suffered by Gypsy and Traveller Communities in the UK

In late 2009, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) published a research report entitled ‘Inequalities Experienced by Gypsy and Traveller Communities: A Review’.

The report concludes that racism and discrimination pervades and has a corrosive impact upon every aspect of life in Gypsy and Traveller communities. The authors of the report found evidence of high rates of anxiety, depression and self-destructive behaviour, which are responses to ‘cultural trauma produced by the failings of 21st century British society and public bodies' failure to engage in an equitable manner with members of the communities’.

The areas of inequality identified by the report are as follows:

Economic exclusion and discrimination in access to employment

This manifests itself through:

  • Low employment rates and high poverty
  • Increasing substance abuse among the unemployed
  • Withdrawal of employment offers
  • Harassment or dismissal from employment

Poor healthcare, social care, education and other public services

This manifests itself through:

  • Higher mortality rates
  • Higher suicide rates
  • Poor health combined with less likelihood of receiving effective, continuous healthcare
  • Fewer educational achievements for children, and documented ongoing decline in this area (contrary to the national trend)
  • Low participation in secondary education: discrimination and abusive behaviour on the part of school staff and other students are frequently cited as reasons for children and young people leaving education at an early age
  • Lack of access to pre-school, out-of-school and leisure services for children and young people
  • Lack of access to culturally appropriate support services for people in the most vulnerable situations, such as women experiencing domestic violence

Disproportionality and prejudice throughout the legal and criminal justice systems

This manifests itself through:

  • Greater likelihood of criminalisation at a young age, and more rapid progress into custody
  • Disproportionate levels of Anti-Social Behaviour Orders
  • High use of remand in custody, both because of judicial assumptions about perceived risk of absconding and lack of secure accommodation
  • Prejudice within pre-sentence reports, the police service and the judiciary
  • Perpetuation of discrimination, disadvantage and cultural dislocation within the prison system, leading to acute distress and suicide

Racism and discriminatory actions/omissions

This manifests itself through:

  • Abusive media coverage and overtly racist statements from local and national politicians and other people in positions of influence
  • Ignorance and prejudice throughout society and common societal misconceptions about Gypsies and Travellers
  • Service providers refusing to provide necessary services
  • Hate crimes

Lack of access and discrimination in the housing sector

This manifests itself through:

  • Lack of suitable, secure accommodation
  • Local authorities turning down planning applications, though many are successful on appeal
  • Failure of local authorities and social landlords to access Government funds provided for housing of Gypsies and Travellers
  • Considerable shortfall in the quantity of residential and transit accommodation
  • Poor site location (for instance, under motorways or next to sewage works). Other problems include health hazards (such as contamination by vermin), decayed sewage and water fittings, poor-quality utility rooms, and failings in fire safety
  • Cycle of evictions
    • Caught between an insufficient supply of suitable accommodation on the one hand, and the insecurity of unauthorised encampments and developments on the other
    • Roadside stopping places, with no facilities and continued instability and trauma, become a way of life
    • Deteriorating health due to lack of access to healthcare while on the road
    • Severe disruptions to access to education for children, healthcare services and employment opportunities
    • Where housing is provided it is often on the most deprived estates, which means that there is exposure to wider environmental disadvantages and more direct and immediate hostility focused on ethnicity or lifestyle
    • Dislocation and fracturing of families, communities, culture and support systems occurs, leading to further cycles of disadvantage

Marginalisation or exclusion from political participation

This manifests itself through:

  • Exclusion from policy initiatives designed to promote inclusion and equality
  • Exclusion from political structures and community development and community cohesion programmes
  • Lack of recognition of cultural identity, with consequential damage to self-esteem.

Contemporary Legal Issue

Gypsies and Traveller communities living in caravans on local authority-run sites in the United Kingdom do not yet enjoy security of tenure, despite the fact that a substantial majority of them no longer travel for any material period of time.

In Connors v The United Kingdom Application No. 66746/01, 27 May 2004, the European Court of Human Rights held that the United Kingdom has a positive obligation by virtue of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights to facilitate the Gypsy way of life.

Although progress has been made in this area, it is disappointing that the United Kingdom has failed to take greater steps to comply with its Article 8 obligations.

Education

We believe that education is one of the most effective means of combating discrimination facing Gypsies and Travellers.  To that end, we are working with Friends, Families and Travellers to put support a theatrical project, Crystal's Vardo, for school students.  If you would like to know more, please click here.  To book your school in for a showing of the production, please email: info@renecassin.org with the subject 'Gypsy and Traveller Theatre'.

Recommended reading

Why human rights need to infiltrate the planning process: http://www.humanrights.ie/index.php/2011/09/21/dale-farm-why-human-rights-needs-to-infiltrate-the-planning-process/

Jews, Gypsies and Travellers: a particular empathy: http://www.opendemocracy.net/keith-kahn-harris-simone-abel-shauna-leven/jews-gypsies-and-travellers-particular-empathy

Fighting for rights of the Roma: http://www.thejc.com/news/social-action/53073/fighting-rights-roma

'Culturally acceptable racism' at Dale Farm: http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/54323/culturally-acceptable-racism-dale-farm

René Cassin's Campaign Policy Paper

Benjamin Ward's paper on 'Europe's Own Human Rights Crisis' at Human Rights Watch