17.01.2014 Increase in eviction of Rroma Settlements in France

The European Roma Rights Centre (2014) states in its latest report a massive increase of evictions in France during the year 2013. According to the statistics of the organisation, the French authorities expelled, 20,000 Rroma from their informal dwellings. These are more than twice as many evictions as in 2012. According to the authors of the report it can be assumed that a lot more than estimated 20,000 were displaced, as information of the Human Rights League indicates. As before, the inter-ministerial circular from August 2012 was ignored by the responsible authorities. The circular favoured sound, planned evictions of the informal settlements. The methods now practiced complicate the integration of Rroma and promote racism and rejection of the minority rather than cooperation: „Forced evictions continued almost everywhere without credible alternative housing solutions or social support. NGOs and various institutions (such as the French Ombudsman) have highlighted that government policy is ignored – an interministerial circular of 26 August 2012, which ordered local authorities to carry out a social assessment of Roma in any eviction – is rarely implemented and superficial at best. It often resembles a population census rather than a real and lasting attempt at social inclusion.” Most evictions took place in the districts of Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Ile-de-France. The findings of the European Roma Rights Centre are particularly astonishing when considering that the Socialist President Francoise Hollande had promised a major change in the French politics regarding Rroma (compare Al Jazeera America 2014, Sayare 2014).