Collective expulsion of aliens is forbidden by the European Convention on Human Rights

Exract from article Financial Times 19.08.10:
Maria Ochoa-Llido, head of the Migrations and Roma division of the Council of Europe, said the policy of deporting hundreds of Romas risked violating the European Convention of Human Rights under which “collective expulsion of aliens is prohibited”.

“The romas are being made scapegoats,” said Ms Ochoa-Llido. The real problem, was that France had failed to implement its own law requiring municipalities of 5,000 people or more to provide equipped sites for travellers. “There are not enough sites and when they do exist they are the bare minimum, so they are obliged to set up elsewhere.”

Moreover unlike in other European countries, Roma would not have the right to work in France before 2014. Ms Ochoa-Llido rejected suggestions that crime rates were higher among Roma populations, though there were criminal networks of eastern European origin which had used travellers to commit crimes or participate in begging scams.

That could not be confused with the petty crime that resulted from exclusion and the failure to integrate Roma populations. “If they had decent living conditions they would have less reason to turn to petty crime.” she said.

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Recent Activities

During the Meeting of anti-racists of Europe, organised by several Roma and Sinti NGOs and UNAR (Italian National Office for anti-discrimination), that took place in Bolzano from 2-6 June 2010, the CoE Dosta! campaign was presented to the audience coming from numerous European countries. The meeting is part of a wider range of activities organised by UNAR within the framework of Dosta! campaign in Italy.

On 27-29 May 2010 in Rio de Janeiro, Art for the World presented an avant-premiere of 5 short films from the long feature "Then and Now: Beyond Borders and Differences", among which the short movie "Chimeres absentes" by Ms Fanny Ardant, a patron of the CoE Dosta! campaign. The movie presents the problems of exclusion of Roma children from schools. The programme of the event is available here.

The international specialist workshop organised within the Presidency of the Slovak Republic of the Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005-2015 entitled "Programmes supporting social inclusion of the disadvantaged population groups" took place in Bratislava on 17-18 May 2010. The speech of Ms Louiza Kyriakaki, a Chair of the MG-S-ROM is available here.

European Roma and Travellers Forum
Speech of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe
French Presidency of the European Union
Meeting report
Czech Presidency of the European Union
Media training on the Roma minority and ethical reporting