Brussels, 30/09/2011 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 29 September, France again found itself under fire from Human Rights Watch (HRW). In a report the organisation asserted that the French authorities continued to evict and expel Roma from the East of Europe in massive numbers. The organisation also called on the Commission to examine this expulsion policy.
In summer 2010, the Commission and France clashed on this dossier but the Commission has recently welcomed the fact that its comments were given a hearing by the French authorities. The HRW, however, considers that although “the European Commission gave France the all-clear, the situation for Roma in France has only grown worse”. According to HRW, the official figures indicate that 4,714 Romanians and Bulgarians were expelled during the first quarter of 2011, as opposed to 9,500 during the whole of 2010. France has expelled more people in three months than over a six month period in the past, exclaimed the human rights organisation.
A year after the European Commission's warning, HRW denounced the fact that despite the promulgation of the new law on immigration, the Roma in France are still subject to further evictions, unfair expulsions and discrimination. The NGO is also concerned that the new immigration law, which entered into force last June, would allow France to largely ignore its obligations under European rules on the freedom of movement and international law and human rights.
In an interview on the subject, Matthew Newman, the spokesperson for the commissioner responsible for this issue, Viviane Reding, refused to take a position on the events purported to have taken place. Newman said that this question was exclusively covered by member states. (SP/transl.fl)