End the French Governments ill treatment of Roma and Traveller

We the undersigned petition call upon France to stop the ill treatment towards Roma and Travellers that we have seen in recent weeks concerning the forced evictions of Roma and travellers' from camps and deporting nationals from other EU countries. The policy targets both those Roma migrants from Romania and Bulgaria residing in France, estimated at around 15,000 people, and also the French Roma and Traveller community, estimated at around 350,000 people. According to official statements, France plans to disband 300 camps over the next three months, several of which have already been broken up.

The main concern is the 'reason' provided for undertaking the measures, which has been mentioned by Sarkozy and in a number of official statements; namely the alleged criminality of Roma and Travellers (theft, prostitution, trafficking, etc), which allows the French government to justify these policies in the name of 'protecting' its citizens. All relevant international organisations, including the EU, UN, Council of Europe and Amnesty International among others unanimously condemn these statements and the resulting policies as prejudice and discrimination. Such inflammatory statements provoke racist sentiments towards Roma and Travellers among the mainstream population and can potentially lead to racially based violence and discrimination.

Moreover, the measures alone violate the rights of targeted groups: forced evictions from camps violate rights on housing, deportations violate freedom of movement, protection by law, equality before the law and a number of other internationally recognised rights, culminating with this racially based discrimination.The current practices of marking and collectively targeting Roma throughout Europe, and particularly in France, is being compared by many to the Nazi persecution of Roma and other groups some 70 years ago. 'Les rafles', meaning roundups, is a historically loaded term that has been used by those within Sarkozy's party itself to criticise the current crackdown, which is threatening to grow far worse.