No garbage in the streets! Misplaced concerns in prevailing world hypocrisies

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Que fait l'Europe pour les Roms et les gens du voyage?

To quote this document: Ivan Matic, “No garbage in the streets! Misplaced concerns in prevailing world hypocrisies”, Nouvelle Europe [en ligne], Monday 28 March 2011, http://www.nouvelle-europe.eu/node/1084, displayed on 17 May 2012

On August 29, 2010, when a plane took off from France to Romania with 79 Roma on board, the international community was already well-informed of the nature of the flight and the reasons why these members of the French Romani community were on board. With the announcement of a crackdown on illegal immigration, followed by evictions obviously targeting Romani communities, the French government brought Europe’s poorest community into the focus of the world media.

The answer to why now is perhaps clouded by the fact that the return of Roma from France to Romania and Bulgaria is not a new phenomenon. European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) reported that France has been returning Roma to these countries under various schemes in significant numbers since at least 2007. What is new with expulsions of Roma that occurred in 2010 and why this issue never came into focus before? But before, passed the common picture and prejudice we have of them, what do we know about the European Romani population?

Who are the Roma?

The estimates on how many Roma live in Europe vary greatly. The minimum estimate starts at a bit over 6 million while maximum estimates go as far as 16 million. Unsurprisingly, ethnic mimicry is widely spread in Romani communities throughout Europe, making official numbers of Roma from national censuses inaccurate and misleading. This is only emphasized by the fact that many Roma do not posses identification documents, and in line with many governments’ hobbies to downplay the numbers of Roma residing within their borders. Still, the most frequently used estimate of the number of Roma in Europe is 11 million, which makes Roma the largest stateless ethnic group on the continent. One could say, looking at the impressive numbers, that it seems to be a force to respect and reckon with.

Being dispersed throughout Europe, without a common language or a common religion, European Roma share one thing only: they constitute the poorest strata of society wherever they are and share all of the consequences pertaining to it. The poorest are the easiest to pick on. Violence against members of the Romani community is widespread and takes many forms, from state perpetuated violence to organized individual attacks. Romani children are furthermore often segregated into special schools or classes resulting in their poor academic results, high drop out rates and low self-esteem. On top of this, the high levels of unemployment, poor education, spatial segregation, substandard housing and in general low socio-economic status in combination with persistent discrimination make Roma highly vulnerable to human trafficking. One would say they would attract more of the world’s concern over human rights and be visible not only when massively deported from France.

But how can we expect visibility and compassion for a community so pervasively poor, discriminated and so often systemically segregated?  It is a hidden community, and even when they have the world’s attention, this time, for being massively expelled from France, even then, we witness misplaced concerns and demonstrations of outmost hypocrisy and deviated values.

(I)legal aspects of 2010 expulsions – What’s the problem?

Contrary to the statements of the French President, the expulsion of Roma that started in late August bear the characteristics of mass expulsions, which are contrary to the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and the European Court of Human Rights. At the same time, the lack of French authorities to examine circumstances of those deported on individual basis is in breach of the EU’s Free Movement Directive. In its submission to the Commission, ERRC points to the President’s Communiqué of July 28, which singled out Roma as an ethnic group for law enforcement action. This was further more confirmed by the French Interior Ministry Circular of 5 August 2010, by which the French security forces were instructed to “give priority to Roma” in conducting eviction and expulsion operations.

In short, it was (and still is) sufficient to be recognized as a member of Romani community to be deported without actually establishing legality of one’s stay in France. Consequently, as ERRC reported, there were cases of people being deported even though they arrived to France less then three months ago, meaning that they had a Right of residence. According to Free Movement Directive, the Right to residence can be extended after three months if certain conditions are met (article 7, section 1). French authorities, however, never assessed if these conditions had actually been met for this would require examining circumstances of thousands of deported on individual basis. It is obvious that French so called crackdown on illegal immigration was nothing else but a crackdown on widely unwanted Roma, with or without a legal right to residence.

Political tensions around the expulsion of the Roma

Roughly ten thousand Roma were expelled from France in 2009, statistics show, and over eight thousand had been expelled in the period since September 2010 alone. The EU Agency for Fundamental Rights in its 2009 report found that the main push factors for Roma migration within in the EU include poverty and racism in the country of origin. Even though Roma migrated to France, mainly from Romania and Bulgaria, in search for a better life, escaping dreadful living conditions they were subjected to in their countries of origin, this seemed not to be of interest for the French President Sarkozy. His reaction to the situation was a legalist one. The law is the law for Mr. President, and expulsions of Roma are nor massive nor expulsions of Roma at all, but simply expulsions of illegal immigrants.

Sarkozy’s true concern, even outrage, was targeted at ruthless Viviane Reding, EU's Commissioner for Justice, Human Rights and Citizenship, who dared to compare Sarkozy’s expulsion policies, clearly targeting members of one ethnic group, with those found in Nazi Germany before and during World War II.

Sarkozy was quick to say Reding’s words were “shameful and disrespectful” and that he would not allow France be the victim of such “outrageous” insult. He emphasized that even Chancellor Merkel shared his shock over Reding’s shameful usage of language and confided he “was deeply shocked especially given our wartime history” and that “[t]hese words were deeply wounding and were insulting to [his] fellow countrymen."