Amnesty International calls on France to heed EU calls to end Roma discrimination

[pampango]

Source: Sofia Echo



Amnesty International has urged the French authorities to comply with a European Parliament resolution demanding the suspension of its policy of mass expulsions of Roma from the country.

The European Parliament, on September 9, had expressed its deep concern at "the inflammatory and openly discriminatory rhetoric" of the political discourse as well as the measures taken by the French authorities and other member states' authorities targeting Roma and Travellers.

"The European Parliament has taken a strong stand - now France must show it is committed to the respect of human rights and the non-discrimination of particular ethnic groups, including Roma and Travellers," said David Diaz-Jogeix, deputy director of Amnesty International's Europe and Central Asia programme.



Read more: http://www.sofiaecho.com/2010/09/10/958602_amnesty-international-calls-on-france-to-heed-eu-calls-to-end-roma-discrimination

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http://www.tnr.com/blog/foreign-policy/77416/france-immigration-policy-roma-sarkozy

In its attitudes toward foreigners and “immigrant-origin populations” (i.e. both immigrants and the children and grandchildren of immigrants), the French government is increasingly trying to establish French “values” as a basis for policy. For instance, earlier this summer, Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux ordered the deportation of Egyptian Islamist imam Ali Ibrahim El Soudany, claiming that he “despised the values of our society,” and that his message of religious hatred “had nothing to do with religious liberty.” The ban on the burqa is similarly justified by reference not only to human rights, but more nebulously to values such as the importance of face-to-face contact. In this shift, France has followed the lead of countries like the Netherlands, where would-be citizens must now watch a film that shows two men kissing, and a topless woman on a beach, so as to understand Dutch “values.”

This all raises the obvious problem of how national “values” can possibly be defined. Sixty years ago, by most present-day definitions, a large majority of the French (like a large majority in most countries on earth) held homophobic and bigoted attitudes. So should national values depend on shifting majority opinion? If not, who decides their content? Perhaps Sarkozy’s new “Ministry of Immigration, Integration and National Identity”? Moreover, if the values of “the French” can be so neatly packaged, why can the same not be done with other groups, whose values might be judged fundamentally antithetical to “French” ones? What of “Muslim” values, for instance?

Meanwhile, the expulsion of the Roma illustrates the tensions between the politics of immigration and citizenship on the one hand, and the realities of population movements on the other. Sarkozy, in an Arizonan vein, describes the people expelled as threats to public order who, as foreigners, had no right to stay on French soil. Yet, in practice, like most Western countries, France has many categories of resident foreigners (legal immigrants, temporary workers, asylum-seekers, citizens of other EU countries, etc.) who enjoy a wide variety of rights. The Roma expelled this summer are mostly citizens of EU member states Bulgaria and Romania, and, while France had the right to expel them, under EU law, the Roma had the right to re-enter the country the day after their expulsion.

Yet, in politics, the temptation is always to divide the world neatly into two parts: “citizens” and “non-citizens,” “us” and “them.” This is hardly, by itself, a bad thing. Democracy requires a clearly bounded community of citizens. And, arguably, elite civil servants in France, with their concern for the construction of a complex, technocratic European super-state, have only fueled populist anger by giving this point too little importance in past years and equating all opposition (including the 2005 referendum vote against the proposed European Constitution) with xenophobia

[Name removed]

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[pampango]

3. Maybe AI can help the EU parliament with that. There should be plenty of room in those countries.

France, Germany and the UK aren't even listed, while Spain comes in 14th on the list. None of them have that many Roma in their countries. :)
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"FRANCE has said it will ignore European orders to stop expelling gypsies from the country immediately.

The European parliament in Strasbourg passed a resolution yesterday urging France to suspend the controversial deportations.

The order was put forward by left-wing parties in the parliament and was adopted by 337 votes to 245.

Immigration minister Eric Besson said the EU resolution was a "political diktat" with no legal value, and suspending the expulsions was "out of the question".

"Left-wing parties" may have put forward the motion and voted for it but, given the vote totals, it looks like there was significant conservative opposition to it.

[ashling]

2. Vichy France

:shrug:

[bc3000]

4. The Roma raise interesting issues.

How should a just society deal with an ethnic group that is devoted to stealing as an integral part of their culture?

[JustAnotherGen]

5. Elect them as President and VP on a Republican Ticket?

:rofl:

[naaman fletcher]

6. uh oh

you asked the question one is not supposed to ask.

[mjane]

7. Not surprising in a country that has an orwellian Ministry of Culture

and has had for decades iirc.

The MOC for example, has long had the power to fine businesses for using non-French phrases in advertising "le weekend" etc.

The Toubon laws were passed, etc.

Thus, I do not find this entirely surprising for France.