ICELAND

ATL ANTIC FINLAND

OCEAN NORWAY SWEDEN RUSSIA

ESTONIA

LATVIA IRELAND UNITED DENMARK KINGDOM LITHUANIA Kaliningrad (Rus.) BELARUS NETHERLANDS GERMANY POLAND BELGIUM LUXEMBOURG CZECH REP. UKRAINE

SLOVAKIA

LIECH. MOLDOVA FRANCE SWITZERLAND AUSTRIA HUNGARY SLOVENIA ROMANIA CROATIA BOSNIA GEORGIA ANDORRA SAN MARINO SERBIA PORTUGAL AND HERZE. BLACK SEA MONACO MONTENEGRO AZERBAIJAN

Kosovo SPAIN ARMENIA MACEDONIA AZER. ITALY ALBANIA TURKEY GREECE

CYPRUS

MEDITERRANEAN SEA Europe Katalin Halász he year 2011 marked the tenth anniver- Right: Migrants from Libya, being transported sary of the 11 September 2001 attacks to Lampedusa, Italy. These people were among T on the United States. These al-Qaeda almost 500 people rescued from a skiff in the attacks and subsequent incidents in European Mediterranean Sea. UNHCR/F. Noy cities, with bombings in Madrid in 2004 and London in 2005, fuelled fears that immigrants from wearing the garment. These measures not and ethnic, religious and linguistic minori- only stigmatize minority women but also risk ties could present a security threat in Europe. effectively excluding them from access to essential European policy-makers responded by tightening social services. immigration laws and imposing stricter controls An event shook the continent on 22 July, over newcomers. New or strengthened when two attacks – in the Norwegian capital anti-terrorism laws have had profound implica- of Oslo and on the nearby tiny island of Utøya tions for migrant and minority communities. – claimed the lives of 77 people. As it emerged The events of September 2001 also served that the perpetrator of the gruesome massacre, to compound existing Islamophobia. Right- Anders Behring Breivik, had links to extreme wing commentators have ramped up fears in right-wing groups, the European Union’s recent years, amid growing economic and social (EU’s) Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) and problems caused by the global recession. The EU politicians warned against xenophobia and European Network Against Racism (ENAR) and growing intolerance in Europe. other human rights groups used the anniversary The far right continues to grow across Europe, to appeal to European countries to move away espousing an ideology that openly embraces hard- from the politics of fear and acknowledge line nationalist, anti-immigrant and xenophobic human rights abuses committed during the rhetoric. In some EU countries – such as so-called ‘global war on terror’. In May, Council Sweden, Finland, Hungary and the Netherlands of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights – far-right parties have experienced sudden Thomas Hammarberg voiced his concern that the electoral successes in recent years. However, in official responses to the attacks have undermined other countries, such as France, Italy, Austria, human rights in Europe, while at the same time Denmark and Switzerland, where they are an he called for respect to be paid to those who established part of the political architecture, far- lost their families and friends. Islamophobia right parties have experienced varying degrees of continues to rise. According to figures released by electoral support in 2011. the French Interior Ministry, 115 cases of attacks In France, Marine Le Pen, the daughter of and harassment against Muslims were reported to Jean-Marie Le Pen took control of the 38-year- police in France in the first nine months of 2011; old National Front party in January 2011 and the Muslim umbrella group, Conseil Français recorded increased support in the first round of du Culte Musulman (CFCM) commented that the 2012 presidential election. Swiss and Danish the figure was probably a gross underestimate far-right parties lost ground in the 2011 national since many cases go unreported. CFCM feared elections, showing a positive shift away from their that these figures will increase ahead of the 2012 decades-long influence on mainstream politics. general election, as the main political parties But in Germany and in the Czech Republic, remain divided in an ongoing national debate extremists and neo-Nazi groups took to the on secularism and the place of Islam in French streets. In May 2011 around 150 neo-Nazis society. tried to march through the mainly alternative In April 2011, France became the first country district of Kreuzberg in Berlin. Participants in in Europe to ban wearing a full-face veil, the march chanted ‘Wahrheit macht frei’ (‘The burqa or niqab, in public, which some Muslim truth makes one free’) – a slogan resembling the women regard as a religious duty. In July, a law one at the gates to several Nazi concentration banning the full-face veil also came into force in camps, such as Auschwitz and Dachau, ‘Arbeit Belgium; and in February the central German macht frei’ (‘Work makes one free’). In Dresden state of Hesse forbade public sector employees 17,500 protested against the annual neo-Nazi

174 Europe State of the World’s Minorities and Indigenous Peoples 2012 march to mark the anniversary of the bombing call for help with funds and accommodating of the city during the Second World War. migrants, criticizing the country for raising false Neo-Nazi gatherings and marches took place alarms. In fact, according to UNHCR, over in other towns and cities across the country, 55,000 boat migrants, including at least 3,700 which is fighting a hard battle against extremism. unaccompanied children, reached Lampedusa Far-right supporters also faced opponents in from North Africa in the first seven months of the Czech city of Brno in May, when eight the year. By September, the Italian authorities extremists were detained, including one German. declared the island an unsafe port. The decision In Italy, a member of an extremist group killed was taken in the wake of violent disturbances two Senegalese traders and injured others in which saw Tunisian migrants damage the island’s December in an attack that was condemned by reception centre and other buildings. Italy’s President Giorgio Napolitano as a ‘blind Amid fears of a flood of North African explosion of hatred’. migrants, European countries’ first reaction The popular protests and ensuing unrest was to close their borders and to press for in North Africa and the Middle East in 2011 re-admission accords with governments in the brought thousands of migrants and asylum- Middle East and North Africa. Italy and France seekers to European shores. proposed a radical revision of the Schengen The UN estimated that at least 1,400 people Agreement – the regime of passport-free travel died crossing the Mediterranean in the first within the EU’s borders – in order to allow seven months of 2011, most as they tried to flee member states to restore border controls. Libya. The UN refugee agency UNHCR urged The agreement covers more than 400 million European states to improve their mechanisms people in 22 EU countries, as well as Norway, for rescue at sea. In May, a delegation of Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Iceland. Germany, the Committee on Migration, Refugees and the Netherlands, Greece and Malta also Population of the Parliamentary Assembly of the supported the move to curb freedom of travel, Council of Europe (PACE) visited Lampedusa, one of the cornerstones of an integrated Europe, a tiny Italian island in the Mediterranean Sea, while still underlining the importance of an where large numbers of those fleeing North ‘open Europe’. Africa were arriving, and called for rapid action. This policy shift followed the Danish But prior to the visit, the EU rejected Italy’s government’s decision to reintroduce security

State of the World’s Minorities Europe 175 and Indigenous Peoples 2012 checks at the country’s borders with Sweden and Right: Roma children at the village of Cetăţeni, Germany. But after the European Commission Romania. Cinty Ionescu. criticized the ‘unjustified’ new border controls, the new centre-left Danish government agreed confirm the high degree of discrimination faced to roll back the controversial policy. However, at by many minorities in Europe. The Macedonian an emergency meeting on immigration and the Centre for International Cooperation found that Schengen Agreement in June, EU leaders agreed 67.7 per cent of the interviewees believe people to establish a ‘safeguard mechanism’ allowing the suffer from discrimination on an ethnic basis. reintroduction of internal borders in exceptional An opinion poll carried out by the Centre for circumstances. The European Council President Democracy and Human Rights in Montenegro Herman Van Rompuy insisted this did not revealed that one-fifth of the respondents did not weaken the basic principle of free movement want an ethnic Albanian neighbour. of persons, stating that ‘the mechanism now The 2011 European Commission on Racism allows “as a very last resort” the exceptional and Intolerance reports on Azerbaijan, Cyprus reintroduction of internal border controls in a and Serbia also highlight concerns regarding truly critical situation’. But the move to reinstate the institutional and legislative frameworks to internal border checks in the EU’s Schengen combat racial and religious discrimination. The zone was sharply criticized by Commissioner Council of Europe Advisory Committee on Hammarberg: ‘It is proof that Europe is not the Framework Convention for the Protection living up to its own declarations about human of National Minorities welcomed a number rights’, he said. of measures Armenia has taken to further the In its annual review of the application of the implementation of the Framework Convention EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights, the FRA but, in a report issued in April, pointed to underlined three major concerns: member states’ the lack of comprehensive anti-discrimination poor treatment of asylum-seekers; continuing legislation, as well as the urgent need to take social exclusion of the Roma; and poor personal action to protect minorities from racially data protection. The FRA also provided motivated violence, and promote minority evidence on the persistent discrimination against cultural, media and linguistic rights. minorities in many areas of life, including employment, education, housing and health care. Roma Both the FRA and the European Parliament Europe’s 10–12 million Roma continue to face repeated calls for the adoption by EU member a climate of increasing violence, harassment states of the draft anti-discrimination directive, and intimidation across the continent. Roma which was proposed in 2008. But Germany communities, who live dispersed across Europe, and other member states halted any dialogue on were targeted for mass expulsions and evictions the draft, which would add to the existing EU throughout 2011. The French government’s anti-discrimination legislation by forbidding campaign to evict and deport Roma, which discrimination based on religion or belief, attracted strong international criticism in disability, age or sexual orientation in access to 2010, continued aggressively in 2011. In June, goods and services, education and social benefits. the French Interior Minister Claude Guéant Recent surveys show that discrimination announced plans to return as many as 28,000 is rife in Europe – both within EU member allegedly illegal immigrants in 2011. states and beyond EU borders. In February, the Roma continued to be targeted for ongoing FRA published its first ever EU-wide survey on evictions in other countries in Europe. According multiple discrimination. The survey showed to the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC), that people belonging to ‘visible’ minorities, evictions were carried out during 2011 by such as people of African origin and Roma, are Albania, Bulgaria, France, Italy, Macedonia, more likely to be discriminated against on more Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and the UK. Between than one ground compared to other minorities. April and October, 46 evictions affecting 5,753 Surveys on discrimination outside the EU people were recorded by the organization in

176 Europe State of the World’s Minorities and Indigenous Peoples 2012 France. Between June and August, at least 500 (including children, pregnant women and elderly Roma were evicted from camps in Marseille. The people) in February. After an intervention by Italian authorities have also been aggressive in ERRC, the authorities restored the water supply, pursuing a policy of evictions, affecting thousands but the reconnection was not made known to of Roma in both Milan and Rome in recent residents and living conditions remain deplorable. years. Between April and December, ERRC In Serbia in June, Police Minister Ivica Dacic monitored 131 evictions (usually affecting many issued an official apology to a Roma family, four households at a time) in Italy. Roma support years after their son was brutally beaten by police groups reported evictions taking place during the in the eastern city of Vrsac. Police brutality is spring of the Roma community in the Magliana widespread in the country according to human aqueduct area of Rome, several families in the rights groups. ERRC also raised concerns about Piazza Lugano settlement in Milan and a family disproportionate use of police force in Lviv in Prato. With no alternative accommodation city in western Ukraine, and urged authorities being provided, these clearances had disastrous to investigate unlawful discriminatory identity consequences for the affected families. checks of Roma youth, including fingerprinting In northern Romania, the local authorities of and document verification without any allegation Baia-Mare erected a concrete wall to separate a of involvement in criminal activities. Roma community from the rest of the town. In In Hungary, Roma were targeted by a far- response to criticisms of institutionalized racism right vigilante paramilitary group – ‘For a and ghettoization, the mayor of the town Better Future’. The group deployed patrols claimed that the wall was to protect citizens in the northern village of Gyöngyöspata. The against car crashes. intimidation reached its peak in March, when In Portugal, the municipality of Vidigueira 1,000 black-uniformed neo-Nazis marched destroyed the water supply of 67 Roma through the village with dogs and armed with

State of the World’s Minorities Europe 177 and Indigenous Peoples 2012 whips and chains. These incidents prompted the UN Special Rapporteur on racism, Githu Case study Mujgaj, to visit the village in May and meet with representatives of the Roma community, local politicians and police authorities. He said that Corporate abuse the country had yet to effectively tackle racism, xenophobia and related intolerance. flows along the Forced sterilization of Roma women remains an unresolved issue in some countries. Roma Baku–Tbilisi– women in the Czech Republic are still waiting for adequate redress for irreparable injuries Ceyhan oil pipeline two years after the Czech government under Prime Minister Jan Fischer expressed regret for individual sterilizations. However, a 20-year-old Early in 2011, the UK government ruled that woman won her human rights appeal against a BP-led oil consortium was not carrying out Slovakia before the European Court of Human the human rights responsibilities of multi- Rights (ECtHR) in November. In its first national companies in its operations on the judgement on sterilization, the Strasbourg court controversial Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan (BTC) oil ordered Slovakia to pay €43,000 in damages for pipeline. The 1,770 km pipeline runs from violating the human rights of a woman who was offshore oil fields in the Caspian Sea near sterilized without her informed consent. Azerbaijan’s capital Baku, to Tbilisi, the capital Amid growing controversy, the European of Georgia, and on to the port of Ceyhan on Commission adopted the EU Framework for the southern shores of Turkey in the Mediter- National Roma Integration Strategies in June. ranean Sea. Construction of the BP flagship This was welcomed as a step forward and will project started in 1993 and was completed in enable the EU to take steps to fight anti-Roma 2006. BP has consistently promoted the BTC discrimination and racism. But MRG has pipeline project as exemplary in its approach to pointed out that the Framework, by narrowly human rights. focusing on the social and economic situation The ruling followed a complaint lodged in of Roma, falls far short of fully tackling the 2003 by a group of six NGOs and human challenges of Roma exclusion. It remains to be rights organizations under the Organization for seen how well the European Commission and Economic Co-operation and Development’s the member states convert the Framework’s (OECD’s) Guidelines for Multinational Enter- human rights commitments into tangible and prises. The BTC pipeline passes through areas ambitious national strategies that are effectively with significant ethnic and religious minorities; implemented. Sadly, only 15 out of 27 EU Kurdish villagers living in north-eastern Turkey member states had met the end of 2011 have struggled to hold the consortium account- deadline for submitting national integration able for alleged human rights abuses associated strategy reports. with its development. Between 2003 and 2005, the NGO coalition conducted annual fact- Bulgaria finding missions to areas along the route of the Issues concerning ethnic and religious BTC pipeline in the three countries. discrimination featured prominently in public The coalition found that the BTC debates in Bulgaria in 2011. The mistreatment consortium had failed to ensure that the of the Roma community – who make up more project complied with OECD guidelines and than 10 per cent of the country’s population the Voluntary Principles on Security and and are the country’s second largest ethnic Human Rights, which say that: minority after ethnic Turks – continued to ‘[C]ompanies should record and report any remain a grave concern. Gay McDougall, credible allegations of human rights abuses by UN Independent Expert on Minority Issues,

178 Europe State of the World’s Minorities and Indigenous Peoples 2012 public security … Where appropriate, companies minorities in relation to employment practices should urge investigation and that action be taken and in the carrying out of development pro- to prevent any recurrence.’ Since the inception grammes. of the project, human rights campaigners in In Georgia, concerns were raised about Turkey and the UK have been alarmed that expropriation of land, poor environmental Kurds and members of other local communities standards, lack of consultation or compensa- have faced intimidation and interrogation by tion for damage caused, unacceptable use of security forces when they have raised objections untested materials during construction and to the pipeline. Ferhat Kaya, a local human rights labour violations. In Azerbaijan, serious con- defender, was reported to have been detained and cerns were raised over compensation for land, tortured by the paramilitary police for insisting corruption and restrictions on local press and on fair compensation. The coalition argued affected communities regarding criticism of that intimidation deterred local people from the project. But the most serious issues relat- participating in BP’s consultations about the BTC ing to minorities were raised in Turkey. The pipeline’s route and from seeking compensation UK government ruled that, despite widespread for loss of their land and livelihoods. awareness of the heightened risk of intimida- The group also found that, in Turkey, the BTC tion, BP failed adequately to respond or to project has contributed to displacement of the investigate allegations brought to its attention Kurdish minority, who have been subject to state of cases of abuse by state security forces in repression for decades. In north-eastern Turkey, Turkey guarding the pipeline. where Kurds constitute 30–40 per cent of the local The ruling could set a new precedent for population, displacement has been less a result multinationals to implement more robust of direct military action against the supporters of human rights impact assessments. Rachel the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) – which was Bernu of the Kurdish Human Rights Project more the case in other parts of the country – but reflected on the ruling, saying that: was due to gradual economic pressure and state ‘It has taken eight years for the claims of villag- harassment. Affected villagers described the BTC ers facing repression in this isolated area of Tur- pipeline as an added pressure on them to leave; it key to be recognized. We hope this ruling marks a disrupted their subsistence agricultural production turning point for the governments and companies without providing any compensation or alterna- involved so that villagers receive just compensa- tive source of income. There were also allegations tion, and human rights are not only respected but that the BTC project discriminated against ethnic also promoted through investment in future.’ p

State of the World’s Minorities Europe 179 and Indigenous Peoples 2012 visited the country in July in order to assess Roma and to conduct a full investigation and the situation of minorities – particularly Roma, prosecution of all responsible perpetrators. Turks and other Muslim minorities. She The UN also voiced deep concern about the concluded that government measures to address anti-Roma rallies and accompanying hate the deep-rooted discrimination, exclusion and speech. Although incitement to racial hatred poverty faced by Roma have been superficial and discriminatory public communication are and inadequate. Bulgarian government prohibited under Bulgarian law, these provisions commitment to Roma equality remains weak: are rarely enforced. MRG has stated its alarm Roma unemployment rates are peaking at 80 that non-enforcement of the law creates a sense per cent; in the capital, , 70 per cent of of impunity and erodes what little mutual the Roma population lives in dwellings without trust remains between Roma and non-Roma access to basic infrastructure such as running communities. water, sewerage, paved streets, waste collection These events stirred up panic among other or street lights. The current financial crisis has minority communities as well. Turkey’s Hürriyet put a strain on resources, but, as highlighted newspaper reported that the Turkish community by the Independent Expert, the government’s in Bulgaria feared a nationalist backlash in the current inconsistent pilot project-based wake of the anti-Roma rallies. And on 20 May, approach will never be sufficient to address Ataka provoked clashes with Muslims gathered these socio-economic challenges. for Friday prayer at the Banya Bashi in Roma have also been the victims of forced Sofia, protesting against the use of loudspeakers evictions. Although the government, in its to issue the call to prayer. Bulgarian politicians third periodic report on the implementation condemned the ensuing violence and desecration of the International Covenant on Civil and of religious symbols. Political Rights, stated that Roma were Shortly after, the ruling political party only evicted after extensive legal procedures GERB distanced itself from the far-right Ataka were carried out, giving Roma time to find by proposing a declaration adopted by the alternative accommodation, reports by the parliament which condemned the attack on Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, ENAR Bulgaria the mosque. The secretary of the Chief Mufti’s and Justice 21, a Bulgarian human rights Office, Husein Hafazov, provided a detailed organization, do not support this view. The account of numerous cases of harassment of Bulgarian Helsinki Committee pointed to large- Muslims in Bulgaria, including: threats against scale house demolitions in Sofia and Burgas in Muslim women wearing headscarves, setting 2009, and in Yambol and Maksuda in 2010, dogs on them and spitting, painting the walls noting that few if any alternatives were provided of religious schools and with anti- and that the evictions were often accompanied Islamic slogans, destroying mosques and religious by excessive use of force. property, and physical attacks. In September, an incident in Katunitza, in Other religious minorities also suffered from which a Bulgarian teenager was killed by a Roma harassment, physical attacks and damage to driver allegedly linked to a notorious crime-boss, property in 2011. The Jewish community has the self-proclaimed ‘Gypsy Tsar’ Kiril Rashkov, long suffered from anti-Semitic attacks. In sparked violent clashes in the village. Anti- 2011, a Jewish organization, Shalom, published Roma protests spread across the country. The its first bulletin on ‘Anti-Semitic actions in right-wing party Ataka held demonstrations and Bulgaria in 2009–2010’, which includes a long demanded tough action from the government, list of acts of religious desecration and damage even calling for the death penalty to be reinstated to religious buildings. In April, the House of in the country. Prayer of Jehovah Witnesses, a legally registered Prime Minister Boyko Borisov came under since 2003, was violently criticism for not reacting quickly enough to the attacked in a rally organized by VMRO unrest. The ERRC and Amnesty International (the International Macedonian Voluntary urged the Bulgarian authorities to protect Organization) in Burgas.

180 Europe State of the World’s Minorities and Indigenous Peoples 2012 Greece new asylum service that will deal with a backlog On 3 January 2011, the Minister for Citizen of applications. The law also puts in place a Protection, Christos Papoutsis, announced plans procedure for appeal following the rejection of an to build a 12.5 km fence along its border with asylum request. The move comes after repeated Turkey, to prevent undocumented migrants delays. In 2011, the largest groups of people entering the country. The minister stated that came from Afghanistan (with 44 per cent), as some 128,000 migrants and asylum-seekers well as Algeria (16 per cent), with other smaller reached Greece in 2010, more than 40,000 of groups arriving from Pakistan, Somalia and Iraq. them crossing the border from Turkey at the In September 2011, Human Rights Watch Evros border post. Greece’s land border with (HRW) raised grave concerns regarding the Turkey is more than 200 km long, running conditions of migrants and asylum-seekers kept mostly along the Evros River, and is increasingly in detention. Unaccompanied children, single used by Asian and African migrants to enter the women and mothers with children are housed country since traditional routes across the central with unrelated adult men in overcrowded and western Mediterranean have been blocked by conditions. HRW accused the EU and its strengthened maritime surveillance and bilateral member states of becoming ‘complicit in Greece’s repatriation deals between Italy and Spain with shameful conduct’ when a multinational team various African countries. But it is unlikely that a of FRONTEX (the EU border agency) border 12.5 km fence will prevent waves of immigrants guards were deployed along the Turkish border from flowing into the country. and helped Greece apprehend and detain Various agencies, including the European undocumented migrants. At the same time, the Commission, UNHCR and the International ECtHR fined the Belgian and Greek authorities Organization for Migration, expressed concern after Belgium had sent an Afghan back to that the fence would simply make migrants more Greece. In December, the European Court of dependent on people-smugglers and therefore Justice advised courts in the UK and Ireland more vulnerable. Fears that many more would that transfers of asylum-seekers to Greece should drown in the river at the hands of smugglers not take place if their human rights would be are compounded by serious shortcomings of the jeopardized. By the end of the year, Germany, the Greek asylum system, which has been described UK, Sweden, Norway and Iceland had suspended as ‘dysfunctional’ by the UNHCR. The FRA transfers of asylum-seekers to Greece because of carried out a field research mission in the the poor conditions awaiting them there. Evros region in January and concluded that the The impact of the worst economic and social humanitarian situation of asylum-seekers and crisis in Greece’s recent history has been felt migrants, particularly those held in detention among the country’s minority and migrant centres, was extremely worrying. populations. The Turkish minority in Western Despite the international outcry, the Greek Thrace has been severely affected economically, government moved ahead with plans to build according to the Anatolia News Agency, as a the fence. ‘We have unemployment and result of the collapse of the local tobacco industry serious problems’, commented Papoutsis, who and small businesses that were their primary denounced the ‘hypocrisy of those who criticize’. source of income. Government restrictions on Just days after the announcement of plans to tobacco-growing had affected the local Turkish build a fence, Papoutsis put forward a plan to community even before the economic crisis, and use floating prisons and old army bases to house the small number of factories left in the region undocumented migrants. Greece’s administrative have gradually closed. court subsequently approved the plans to build a The economic crisis has weakened migrant fence, and construction began in February 2012, workers’ labour rights, rendering this group despite the EU’s refusal to fund the project. increasingly vulnerable. On 25 January, 250 Also in January 2011, the Greek parliament migrants in Athens and 50 in Thessaloniki began passed a new law to remove control of asylum- a hunger strike to protest against their living seekers from the police and hand it over to a conditions and insecure legal status. The strike

State of the World’s Minorities Europe 181 and Indigenous Peoples 2012 ended after six weeks when the government offered a deal for them to obtain residence Case study permits, which ensure continuous employment and social insurance payments. The legal requirements for acquiring Greek Sami rights to citizenship have changed to allow second- generation migrants who were born in the country culture and or have studied in Greece for six years to apply for Greek citizenship. Further legislative changes natural resources have made it easier for long-term residents to vote and stand in local elections. Another initiative established local integration councils In January 2011, James Anaya, the UN Spe- that act as consultative bodies for migrants. As cial Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous the Greece Section of ENAR has commented, peoples, issued his report on the human these developments were positively received by rights situation of the Sami indigenous peo- civil society and migrant communities, but there ple living in the Sápmi region of Norway, is still concern over whether these reforms will be Sweden, Finland and Russia. A semi-nomadic implemented effectively. people, who rely on reindeer herding, hunt- Social tensions increased between the ing, gathering and fishing, the Sami are majority population and minority and migrant united by a common identity and linguistic communities throughout 2011, according to and cultural bonds. ENAR-Greece and HRW. The number of racist Reviewing the situation of Sami in the incidents and hate crimes against minorities Nordic countries, the Special Rapporteur and migrants has increased with the rise in the concluded that they do not have to deal with number of migrants and asylum-seekers over past many of the socio-economic concerns that decades. The economic crisis has exacerbated commonly face indigenous peoples throughout already existing xenophobia, Islamophobia and the world, such as serious health problems, anti-Semitism in Greece. Local media often extreme poverty or hunger. In particular, the associate migrants – and especially Muslims of governments of Norway, Sweden and Finland different ethnic backgrounds – with crime and each pay a relatively high level of attention to criminality, ENAR-Greece pointed out. Far-right indigenous issues, at least in comparison to groups, such as Golden Dawn, with xenophobic, other countries. However, more remains to be nationalist and anti-immigrant agendas are done to ensure that Sami people can pursue gaining popularity. their right to self-determination and their right On 6 December 2011, the government to natural resources. proposed a draft measure to tighten Greek laws The Sami population is estimated to be on speech that incites hatred, discrimination or between 70,000 and 100,000 in northern violence, in line with EU rules on hate speech. Europe, with about 2,000 living in the In the same month, HRW issued a report on Russian Kola Peninsula. Of the three Nordic increased racist violence in Greece, welcoming countries, Finland hosts the smallest Sami the trial of three people who assaulted an Afghan population of about 9,000. The first elected asylum seeker in Athens in September 2011. Sami body within any of the Nordic states This was the first trial of its kind since 1999, was the Sami Delegation (Sámi Parlamenta) even though racist violence in the capital has in Finland, established in 1972, and now increased in recent years, reaching alarming replaced by the Finnish Sami Parliament proportions in 2011. As HRW stated, this case (Sámediggi). There are now Sami parliaments is just the tip of the iceberg in the crisis-torn in all three Nordic countries, with varying country, where the police and state authorities degrees of authority, as well as the regional remain tardy and ineffective in responding Sami Parliamentary Council. properly to racist violence.

182 Europe State of the World’s Minorities and Indigenous Peoples 2012 Finland Sweden Sami are recognized as indigenous people by the On 1 January 2011, the Swedish Constitution Constitution of Finland, which also stipulates was amended to explicitly recognize Sami as a their right to cultural autonomy within their people. This was pursuant to a long-standing homeland, noting that ‘in their native region, request of Sami to be distinguished from other the Sami have linguistic and cultural self- minority groups in Sweden. Nonetheless, the government’. However, large-scale natural UN Special Rapporteur heavily criticized Sweden resource exploitation and development projects in his 2011 report for its failure to tackle the threaten the traditional way of living for the most pressing issues for Sami, in particular those reindeer-herding community. In February 2011, related to land and resource rights. Like Finland, the world’s fourth largest mining company, Sweden has not yet ratified the ILO 169. Anglo-American, conducted exploratory drilling The Swedish Sami Parliament’s powers are in a Sami reindeer-herding area, and found limited to monitoring the issues related to Sami large deposits of nickel, copper and gold. The culture. It has limited opportunity to participate Canadian mining company First Quantum is also in decision-making processes when it comes conducting exploratory drilling in the region. to issues about land and natural resources. In The expansion of mining activities could make Sweden, 3,000 Sami practise reindeer herding, reindeer herding increasingly difficult in Finland. managing approximately 250,000 reindeer in Relevant legislation does not acknowledge or grant areas scattered across the northern 40 per cent any special land rights to the Sami community of the country. The 1971 Reindeer Grazing Act or acknowledge any exclusive rights for Sami allows Sami to use land and water for themselves people to pursue their traditional livelihoods. and for their stock, but only within certain Furthermore, unlike in Norway and Sweden, geographic areas defined by the law. Reindeer- reindeer husbandry is not reserved for Sami in herding rights in Sweden are exclusive and Finland, but is open to any citizen of the EU. limited to those Sami who live within designated The Finnish Sami Parliament lacks specific communities, called samebyar, and practise decision-making powers regarding the use of reindeer herding as their principal livelihood. lands or access to water and natural resources But specific reindeer-grazing areas have not been in Sami territory. The state is the legal owner demarcated and Swedish courts put the burden of 90 per cent of the land designated as Sami of proof on Sami to demonstrate land use. Sami homeland. There is at least a measure of are required to prove long-term use of the area protection, however. The Finnish Reindeer claimed, despite the fact Sami leave few if any Husbandry Act of 1990 affirms that state physical marks on the land they use. authorities should consult with representatives ‘It is remarkable that still in 2011, a colonizing of Sami reindeer-herding cooperatives when power tells the indigenous population that it planning measures on state land that will have a must prove its right to exist on its traditional land substantial effect on reindeer herding. before the courts of the colonizer’, said Mattias Finland has ratified all major UN human rights Åhrén, head of the Sami Council’s human rights treaties, including the Framework Convention for unit, commenting on a case in which three Sami the Protection of National Minorities, and voted reindeer-herding communities in the Härjedalen in favour of adoption of the UN Declaration on region were being pushed by the state to sign the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. However, the a tenancy fee agreement, forcing them to pay country has not ratified the International Labour grazing fees to local land-owners. This follows a Organization Indigenous and Tribal Peoples lawsuit in 2004, when majority land-owners in Convention No. 169 (ILO 169), which would Härjedalen successfully claimed that no grazing grant Sami stronger land rights as it recognizes rights existed for Sami on land to which they the rights of indigenous peoples to land and hold title. In a positive development during natural resources as central to their material and April 2011, however, Sweden’s Supreme Court cultural survival. ruled that customary land use, showing due

State of the World’s Minorities Europe 183 and Indigenous Peoples 2012 Case study continued including the prohibition of their languages under the ‘Norwegianization’ policies enforced in consideration to reindeer-herding practices, the past. as opposed to Swedish property law, should The Finnmark Act of 2005 was an important determine access. step forward for Norwegian Sami’s right to self- The development of renewable resources, determination and control over natural resources. such as wind turbines and hydroelectric Although the legislation was a compromise dams, is also increasingly encroaching on between Sami and majority interests, and has reindeer-grazing lands in Sweden. Over 2,000 therefore met with some criticism, it recognizes wind turbines have been planned in reindeer- that Sami and others have acquired rights to land herding areas. In March, Lars-Anders Baer, and resources through long-term customary use. a reindeer herder and a former president of The Act transferred 95 per cent of the land in the Swedish Sami Parliament, called recent the Finnmark region to the Finnmark Estate, developments ‘windmill colonialism’. He the board of which comprises local government was specifically reacting to the Markbygden officials and Norwegian Sami Parliament wind farm project, which the Swedish Sami representatives. Concern has been expressed Parliament has criticized regarding the lack that the Act does not go far enough to protect of proper consultation, disrespect of their the rights of particularly vulnerable indigenous rights and the fact that they were not offered communities, such as the East Sami people. fair compensation for the loss of land and The right of access to marine resources is a livelihoods. With more than 1,100 wind particular worry for Norwegian Sami, due in part turbines planned, Markbygden will be to the industrialization of Norwegian fisheries. Europe’s largest land-based wind-power park This has led to diminished local control as well as and will be built in the municipality of Piteå, environmental problems. Also, regulation of stock where the Sami community of Östra Kikkejaur is decided centrally, without taking into account has its winter reindeer-herding pastures. customary decision-making or local knowledge. Sami in Sweden are also not protected The Norwegian Mineral Act requires that from expanding mining projects, as existing the Sami way of life be safeguarded and that mining laws do not contain provisions to the Norwegian Sami Parliament should have an safeguard the rights of Sami people. In opportunity to comment when permits are being Kiruna town, Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara AB considered. However, Sami representatives have company has plans to relocate half the town criticized the limited scope of the consultation in order to accommodate the expansion of an process as well as the fact that it is limited to existing iron ore mine into reindeer-herding Finnmark and does not extend to traditional lands and vital reindeer migration paths, lands elsewhere. without consulting the Sami community. Russia Norway In Russia, the Sami language is endangered, The Sami National Day on 6 February, partly due to the comparatively small size of the commemorating the first Sami congress held community. Sami arrived at the Kola Peninsula in Trondheim, Norway in 1917, is celebrated some 5,000 years ago, but the traditional way of in all four countries where Sami live today. life for the Sami in Russia has been slowly fading Norway was the first Nordic country to away, as they have been pushed back from tundra ratify the ILO 169 and voted in favour of grazing lands by a steady expansion of industry, the adoption of the UN Declaration on forestry and mining, and by urbanization. the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2007. During the Cold War, Sami reindeer herders Norway has also recognized and apologized were pushed back from a 200-mile exclusion for the discrimination and imposed zone along the border, and Sami fishermen were assimilation that Sami people suffered, forced away from the shore of the Barents Sea, as

184 Europe State of the World’s Minorities and Indigenous Peoples 2012 Above: A Sami reindeer herder in Russia. extract gas from the sea and transport some Alexander Stepanenko. to Murmansk; but, from 2016, the majority of the gas will be piped to Europe across the Soviet military built a network of secret navy the Baltic Sea via the Nord Stream pipeline. installations there. Further threats have emerged Shtokman Development AG is a joint project as the mineral riches of the Kola Peninsula and of Gazprom, Total SA and Statoil ASA. its geographical location on the shores of the According to the Shtokman company, gas Barents Sea have made it attractive to the oil and supply in the Barents Sea is enough to meet gas, and other extractive industries. Sami also global demand for a year. A civil society complain that tourism companies keep them expert group organized by the World Wildlife from practising their traditional fishing by the Fund (WWF) conducted an investigation Voronya River and Lovozero Lake. into the Shtokman project and in February The Shtokman oil field is one controversial 2011 concluded that environmental damage project under development that will potentially could be great should development of the have a grave impact, not just on the Sami but on field proceed. While large-scale investment other communities living on the Kola Peninsula. in the Shtokman project could improve One of the largest explored natural gas fields in conditions in Teriberka town, where the world, the shelf deposit lies in the Russian unemployment is high and living standards part of the Barents Sea, some 600 km from are desperately low, experts warn that its Murmansk town, a large regional centre on the environmental impact could have tragic Kola Peninsula where the Russian part of the consequences for natural ecosystems in the Sápmi region lies. region and further curtail the traditional way The Shtokman Development AG has plans to of living of the Sami. p

State of the World’s Minorities Europe 185 and Indigenous Peoples 2012 Turkey the European Convention on Human Rights Electra Babouri (ECHR), with 159 cases. Despite the government’s announcement of Following the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) its ‘democratic opening’ programme in the ceasefire declaration and subsequent decrease of summer of 2009, aimed at bringing about a clashes between the PKK and the security forces peaceful solution to the Kurdish situation and in 2010, violence escalated again significantly in upholding the rights of all groups in the society, 2011 with fatalities on both sides. There were little progress was made in 2010. However in also significant Kurdish civilian fatalities as a 2011, Turkey witnessed some potentially positive result of the attacks, and upheaval within these developments. communities continued, particularly in the south- At the general election in June 2011, the east of the country and near the Iraq border. Justice and Development Party (AKP) won a During an air raid in December 2011 near the third term in office with 50 per cent of the vote. Turkey–Iraq border, 35 Kurdish civilians were The election brought Kurdish success too as 36 killed. The government stated that the attacks independents fielded by the pro-Kurdish Peace were targeting armed PKK forces and passed on and Democracy Party (BDP) won seats (rising official condolences to the bereaved families. from 24 in the 2007 election). Seventy-eight In addition, Kurdish officials and activists, women, one of whom is Kurdish, won seats in most of them allegedly associated with the Union the 550-seat parliament (rising from 50 in the of Kurdistan Communities (KCK) and the PKK, 2007 election). continued to be arrested. In August 2011, 98 Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan former mayors and eight other politicians were promised that the process to fully revise arrested because they had demanded better Turkey’s Constitution would commence: conditions for Abdullah Öcalan, the imprisoned ‘through consensus and negotiation … with the ex-PKK leader. An estimated 9,000 individuals opposition, parties outside of parliament, the have been arrested since 2009 for alleged links to media, NGOs, with academics, with anyone the KCK. In spring 2011, trials of another 153 who has something to say’. Changes to the Kurds in custody resumed. The defendants in the Constitution are crucial for Turkey’s minorities, Diyarbakir Heavy Penal Court asked to conduct since only three minority groups are currently their defence in Kurdish, but this was denied by recognized, namely Armenians, Greeks and the court. Jews; others, including Alevis, Kurds and Roma, It remains illegal for Kurdish to be spoken and remain excluded. Even recognized minorities taught in schools, thus Kurdish pupils continue continue to face discrimination. The Parliament to face disadvantage, sometimes taking years Conciliation Commission has been set up to longer to learn to read and write compared work on revising the Constitution, with draft to their Turkish classmates. Moreover, it is expected in 2012. Representatives of minority prohibited for official signs to appear in Kurdish groups have begun to push for their cultural, alongside Turkish. Recently, though, there have linguistic and civil and political rights to be been a few positive developments as Kurdish- incorporated in the new Constitution, and to be speaking radio and television have been allowed, recognized as equal citizens. and in October the first Turkish University In August, the Ministry of Justice established (Artuklu University in the south-east) began a Human Rights Directorate to help harmonize teaching a degree course in Kurdish. Turkey’s judicial practices with those of the EU. Other minorities in Turkey face similar This will hopefully push forward implementation discrimination. Assyrians who have adopted of rulings from the ECtHR. Turkey ranks second Turkish surnames because of prior legislation after Russia in terms of the number of cases now want to go back to using their original taken to the ECtHR, with nearly half of them surnames, but a Constitutional Court ruling on violations of fundamental human rights. In in 2011 said that the law did not permit this. 2011, Turkey topped the list of countries that Many Assyrians felt increasingly frustrated had been found by the ECtHR to have violated and under attack in 2011 as the trial involving

186 Europe State of the World’s Minorities and Indigenous Peoples 2012 their most sacred site, the 1,700-year-old Mor communities as, due to the conflict over the Gabriel monastery, continues. The monastery decades between PKK and Turkey, many have is located in Mardin province in south-east been displaced from their land. Turkey. In 2008, the inhabitants of the villages The government took some steps in 2011 of Yayvantepe, Çandarlı and Eğlence filed a suit towards safeguarding women’s rights. In May, against the monastery, claiming that the land Turkey was the first signatory to the Council of on which it is situated does not belong to the Europe Convention Against Domestic Violence monastery. Simultaneously, some government and Violence again Women. However the authorities filed similar land-related suits against situation remains grave. According to a report the monastery. Assyrian representatives rebut based on a national survey by a consortium of these claims and have brought their case to the Turkish academic institutions, in the south- ECtHR. The first hearing has yet to take place. east of the country, one in two women have Alevis, whose belief system combines experienced violence, which is above the national elements of Shi’a Islam and pre-Islamic folk average. A report by Roj Women’s Association, customs, make up 10–30 per cent of Turkey’s which works on Kurdish and Turkish women’s population according to unofficial estimates. In rights, states that: ‘[I]n 80 per cent of cases, school they have to take compulsory religious victims of custodial rape were Kurdish women, education classes that exclude their own belief and in 90 per cent of cases women cited political system. Alevis, whose places of worship are or war-related reason as causes for their arrest.’ not recognized, have requested that they be Despite there being legislation and relevant exempt from these compulsory classes and protections in place to help protect women, some have taken the issue to court. Despite an such as emergency shelters, these laws exclude ECtHR ruling in 2007 that such exemption unmarried and divorced women and those should be permitted, Turkey’s Department married according to unrecognized religions. of Education has not yet complied with the The gaps in the law, coupled with the lack of verdict. In December 2011, Education Minister enforcement, perpetuates the cycle of incidents Ömer Dinçer pledged that passages in Turkish not being reported, perpetrators not being history textbooks that are antagonistic towards penalized and women not being able to escape Armenians and Assyrians would be amended. their violent environments. In 2011, the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate and others continued to demand that Turkey allow Economic development the Halki seminary on the island of Heybeliada Turkey’s continued economic growth has often to be reopened. The seminary trained generations affected its minority communities negatively. As of patriarchs and was shut in 1971. Turkish many of these groups may be socio-economically courts have ruled that an old orphanage should vulnerable and reside within areas earmarked for be handed back to the Patriarchate, and in development, they have been unable to assert August the government signed a historic decree their rights or benefit from these projects. For to return property seized 75 years ago from example, in 2008 several thousand Roma were minority foundations, including schools, stores evicted from the Sulukule area (one of the oldest and houses. permanent Roma settlements in the world) Since Turkey collects no disaggregated data on in Istanbul. The Roma in Sulukule ended up minorities, it is difficult to gain a clear picture having to sell their homes to private investors of how the situation looks for minority women and the Fatih municipality and moved to a new in the country. But at the fourth UN Forum on district, Tasogluk. But costs of this alternative Minority Issues in November, a Turkish NGO, accommodation proved to be too high, and Association for Social Change, highlighted the Sulukule residents have subsequently had to acute levels of discrimination faced by Kurdish move again to find affordable housing. women as a result of customs regarding women In 2011, other minority families, including and girls, sexual violence, employment and Roma, Kurds and Greeks, have been threatened poverty. The latter is more acute within these with eviction and some have been forced to

State of the World’s Minorities Europe 187 and Indigenous Peoples 2012 leave Tarlabaşı, a small area in the middle of the serious problems and strong opposition. But city. Some of the Kurds living in Tarlabaşı had campaigners fear the government will push ahead settled there after they had been displaced from with the project. Ilisu is only one of a series south-eastern Turkey during the 1990s, when of dams planned as part of the US$ 32 billion the conflict between the Turkish government Southeastern Anatolian Project (Güneydoğu and the PKK was particularly violent. Residents Anadolu Projesi) in the Euphrates and Tigris were intimidated and threatened by the local basins that envisions the construction of 22 dams municipality and law enforcement officials, and 19 hydroelectric plants. The US$ 4 billion according to an Amnesty International Beyhan project on the Euphrates is causing great report. Residents facing eviction had not been concern that the local population will face forced consulted, given adequate notice, access to legal evacuation. At another project in the Senoz remedies, or given adequate alternative housing valley on the Black Sea, dam work continues or compensation. Some officials reportedly despite court rulings. Large forest sections above forced residents to sign eviction notices without the valley have been cleared, causing landslides permitting them to read them. and soil erosion, and the water is being polluted These problems are not restricted to urban adversely affecting the local community and redevelopment. In March 2011, a report killing thousands of fish. launched by Turkish and German civil society organizations highlighted how Turkish dam Ukraine construction projects have caused severe The twentieth anniversary of a referendum that human rights violations. Dams are developed restored the Crimean Peninsula’s autonomous without meaningful consultation with the status was marked in Ukraine on 20 January affected communities, and without sufficient 2011. The referendum, approved by 93 per cent compensation or the provision of alternative of voters shortly before the dissolution of the income sources for those affected. The report Soviet Union, continues to cause divisions on the highlighted the particularly vulnerable Sarıkeçili Peninsula. The pro-Russian Sevastopol–Crimea– Yuruks, who are Turkish nomads who have Russia National Front held a protest on the lived in Anatolia for 900 years and now consist anniversary, claiming that the 1991 referendum of approximately 200 families. Nomads remain was really about the Republic of Crimea completely dependent on river valleys and becoming a union republic within the Soviet pastures to support their subsistence life based on Union (USSR), not within Ukraine, as the USSR herding. still existed when the referendum was held. In the Göksu-Ergene basin in southern Turkey, Many Crimean Tatars, who are indigenous many small dams and hydroelectric plants are to the Crimean Peninsula, boycotted the being built. Construction work is closing many referendum. According to Refat Chubarov, a of the traditional routes that nomads use to move Crimean Tatar community leader quoted by the between winter and summer pastures, leaving media outlet Radio Free Europe/RadioLiberty many families without water and food. (RFE/RL) Ukrainian service, the Crimea’s Development of hydroelectric dams continues, current autonomous status does not guarantee despite the negative impact on humans and the the protection of cultural, social or economic environment. The Turkish government intends rights of the Crimean Tatars. to build over 1,700 dams and hydroelectric On 18 May, more than 15,000 Crimean power plants within the next 12 years. Tatars gathered in the centre of Simferopol, the Some of Turkey’s larger proposed dam projects capital of Crimea, to mark the anniversary of in the Kurdish south-east have sparked fierce the mass deportation of the Crimean Tatars by opposition. For example, the construction of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin in 1944, when the the 1,200 megawatt Ilisu dam on the Tigris entire Crimean Tatar population was deported River in south-east Turkey will displace as to Central Asia and the Siberian region of Russia many as 55,000–65,000 Kurds. European for alleged collaboration with Nazi Germany. As backers withdrew funding in 2009 because of reported by RFE/RL, the demonstrators carried

188 Europe State of the World’s Minorities and Indigenous Peoples 2012 Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar national flags and where Crimean is taught. In April 2011, the banners with slogans such as ‘The deportation of Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic 1944 should be recognized as genocide against of Crimea announced that adopting a draft the Crimean Tatars!’ The Crimea was officially law on languages in Ukraine was an issue transferred from Russia to the Ukrainian Soviet ‘of extreme urgency’. In February 2012, the Socialist Republic in 1954. Crimean Tatars Crimean parliament appealed to the Ukrainian started returning en masse to Crimea from parliament to adopt draft legislation that would Central Asia in the late 1980s and 1990s, and ensure the use of minority languages in culture demanded their land and property back. They and education. The Council of Europe’s Venice currently account for about 13 per cent of the Commission recommended passage of the Peninsula’s 2 million population, 60 per cent of draft law in December 2011. The law was also whom are Russians. supported by 16 higher educational institutions In February 2011, the Kyiv Post reported on and the representatives of 36 national the long struggle of the repatriated Crimean minorities. Tatars to reclaim their land. Allegedly a total of 1,400 hectares of land are occupied by 15,000 United Kingdom Crimean Tatars who have been unable to buy The UK prime minister’s condemnation of ‘state land legally on their return to Crimea. Some are ’ and call for a stronger ‘shared now squatting illegally on plots of land without national identity’ stirred up heated reactions in basic infrastructure, running water and electricity. Europe. David Cameron, addressing a security Crimean Tatars and the authorities contest the conference in Munich on 5 February 2011, requirements for obtaining land. Prime Minister argued that previous policies dealing with ethnic Vasyl Dzharty reportedly stated that Tatars do and cultural diversity had encouraged different not face discrimination in obtaining land, while cultures to live separate lives and ‘even tolerated according to the newspaper source more than 60 these segregated communities behaving in ways per cent of the Tatars have never received any that run counter to our values’. Cameron’s land and have no place to live. speech came after the German Chancellor In its 2011 report, CERD noted that the Angela Merkel remarked on the ‘utter failure’ question of ‘restitution and compensation for of Germany to create a multicultural society in the loss of over 80,000 private dwellings and October 2010. Stating terrorism as the biggest approximately 34,000 hectares of farmland threat to his country, Cameron was careful to upon deportation remains unresolved’. This is differentiate between Islam as a religion and a particularly crucial issue since 86 per cent of Islamic extremism as a political ideology. His the Crimean Tatars living in rural areas did not speech was nonetheless condemned by the have the right to participate in the process of opposition Labour Party, who accused him agricultural land restitution because they had not of ‘inflaming racial tensions’, and by human worked for state enterprises. CERD called for the rights and Muslim community groups. ENAR government to restore the political, social and argued that Cameron’s statement reinforced economic right of the Tatars in Crimea. ‘prejudice and discriminatory perceptions against At the UN Forum on Minority Issues in immigrants, and more generally against British 2011, Nara Narimanova of the Crimean Tatar Muslims largely perceived as foreigners’. Youth Council, gave evidence on the situation of Policing was also a key concern in 2011. The Crimean Tatar women in Ukraine. High levels fatal shooting of Mark Duggan by the police in of unemployment, poor living conditions and Tottenham, north London, on 4 August sparked discrimination have put Crimean Tatar women off violence after years of simmering tensions in a particularly vulnerable situation, according to between locals and the police; riots quickly Narimanova. spread across other neighbourhoods in London A major issue is the lack of opportunity for and cities in England. David Cameron cut Crimean Tatars to educate children in their short investigations into the underlying causes, mother tongue; there are only two universities asserting that the riots were ‘criminality pure

State of the World’s Minorities Europe 189 and Indigenous Peoples 2012 190 Europe State of the World’s Minorities and Indigenous Peoples 2012 Left: A caravan burns as police and bailiffs in of Dale Farm in Essex made major headlines Basildon, UK, begin the eviction of Travellers in 2011, galvanizing civic action against their living at Dale Farm on 19 October 2011. planned eviction from a site between the towns Mary Turner/Peace Fellow of The Advocacy of Billericay and Basildon. In March, Basildon Project 2011. Council cut short a decade-long legal battle with the residents, and voted to take direct action and and simple’ and that the ‘broken society’ must evict 400 residents from Dale Farm, with only a be replaced by a stronger sense of morality and 28-day notice period and a budget of £18 million responsibility. But human rights groups urged put aside for the operation after the High Court the UK government to conduct a serious public ruled that the eviction could go ahead. CERD inquiry into the multi-faceted causes of the riots: called on the UK government to suspend the public policy; social and racial inequality; high planned eviction of Dale Farm residents and unemployment; and cuts in public services and to ensure ‘a peaceful and appropriate solution, economic collapse. Questions were raised over including identifying culturally appropriate police responses, especially their stop-and-search accommodation, with full respect for the rights policies, for singling out particular minorities and of the families involved’. The eviction affected 90 hindering the promotion of equality. families, including older residents, women and Issues concerning policing are not without 150 children. Representatives from the Council precedent in the country. In January 2012, two of Europe also visited the site and petitions men were finally convicted of murdering Stephen were signed to stop the largest ever eviction of Lawrence in April 1993. Stephen Lawrence Travellers in the UK. was a black British youth who was murdered UK jurisprudence recognizes Irish Travellers while waiting at a bus stop by a gang of young and Romany Gypsies as separate ethnic white people chanting racist slogans. A public minorities. At Dale Farm, the residents were inquiry was held in 1998 to examine the initial mainly Irish Travellers. After a short delay Metropolitan Police Service investigation, led granted in September restraining Basildon by High Court judge Sir William Macpherson. council from clearing structures until the case had The inquiry concluded that the police force been heard in the High Court, the Court finally was ‘institutionally racist’, and acknowledged ruled that the eviction could go ahead. According professional incompetence as well as a failure of to the ruling, the Travellers delayed too long in leadership in the capital’s police force. challenging Basildon’s decision, and the council’s The UK government has not developed a race actions were not deemed to be disproportionate. equality strategy. This was a key issue outlined in But hours after the eviction operation started the UK NGOs Against Racism submission, led on 19 October, violence erupted. Bricks and by the Runnymede Trust, to the UN Committee debris were thrown at police, as officers used on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination taser electro-shock weapons at close range. The (CERD) in August 2011. CERD raised concerns operation to remove caravans and chalets from 51 about the government’s response to the August unauthorized plots finished at the beginning of riots; the reported increase in negative portrayals November, but despite the injunction obtained of ethnic minorities, immigrants, asylum- by Basildon council to prevent reoccupation of seekers and refugees by the media, especially the site, some Travellers attempted to return and pointing to the depiction of minority women continue to live there. p as unempowered; and the impact of austerity measures adopted in response to the current economic downturn. There are an estimated 90,000–120,000 nomadic Travellers and Gypsies in the UK and a further 200,000 who live in housing, according to the Gypsy and Traveller Law Reform Coalition. The Gypsy and Traveller community

State of the World’s Minorities Europe 191 and Indigenous Peoples 2012