UN panel tells France to avoid mass Roma deportations

(GENEVA) - The UN anti-racism panel on Friday urged France to avoid the collective deportations of Roma Gypsies and alerted the European Union to the issue, as France defended its actions.

In a series of hard-hitting recommendations issued after a hearing on the situation, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination urged France to "avoid in particular the collective repatriation" and instead to "strive for lasting solutions.

"The issue of the day is the question of the Roma," said Pierre-Richard Prosper, who headed the 18-expert panel's review of France's actions.

"Our concern is that the removal or return of the Roma has been done on a collective basis rather than examining their individual circumstances so it gives the appearance that a group has been identified rather than individuals."

The panel said it was also alerting the EU and Council of Europe to the plight of Roma Gypsies in the whole of Europe in what a diplomatic source described as an exceptional step.

It triggered its "early warning action" procedure on the issue, a panel member said.

"The purpose is to alert various European institutions regarding the problem of Roma and to remind them of their obligation to ensure whatever measure they take it is not discriminatory," said Prosper, a US legal expert.

"It's not only a French problem it's a European problem, what is needed is needed is a European solution," said Prosper.

But France insisted in a statement that it is "scrupulously respecting European law" and its "international undertakings" in its drive to expel Roma Gypsies.

The French statement claimed that each case of expulsion was being handled individually.

It added that those who returned voluntarily were given a grant to help their reintegration, and that "in only a minority of cases are departures carried out as forced deportations, under the authority of civil magistrates and judges, who rule on a case-by-case basis," it said.

France launched the country-wide crackdown on Roma this month after a group of Gypsies allegedly attacked a police station.

The French government said it sent back 283 Roma Thursday, bringing the total number of Romanian and Bulgarian Roma deported so far this year to 8,313, up from 7,875 expelled throughout last year.

The UN panel described the Roma as victims of "violence with a racist characteristic."

France's crackdown has sparked international criticism. The European Union is now reviewing if the move is legal and the Vatican has also spoken out against it.

Prosper said the panel had also raised broader concerns about a rise in racism and xenophobia, asking French authorities "to take measures to curb this rise and actually begin to promote understanding and tolerance."

That trend, the panel cautioned, was fanned by politicians.

"The other concern that we raised is the question of the political discourse that has been taking place over the past few years and we felt that many statements that have been made were discriminatory in nature and targeted specific groups negatively," Prosper told journalists.

The UN panel highlighted the French government's threat to withdraw French nationality in the case of the murder of a policeman.

It said it was "concerned by information that measures could be taken in the domain surrounding citizenship with discriminatory consequences based on national origins."

A French minister said Friday that President Nicolas Sarkozy will next week launch moves to strip some foreign-born criminals of French nationality.

The panel issued the recommendations two weeks after a hearing with French officials on France's application of the 1965 international convention on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination.

During the hearing, the French delegation announced that a national plan to combat racism was being drawn up, without giving details.

The UN panel however had sharp criticism for Paris, saying that there was a "lack of political will" to deal with a worrying resurgence of racism in the country.

Roma people living in the EU - guide