Travellers’ torment
Human rights charity highlight shocking catalogue of anti-gypsy prejudice and hate across Scotland
A YOUNG girl was pelted with stones for being a traveller – one of a growing number of victims of anti-gypsy hate crimes in Scotland.
Campaign group Amnesty revealed the shocking incident yesterday as they exposed a catalogue of discrimination and abuse faced by gypsy travellers.
Amnesty’s Scotland programme director Kate Nevens said: “A colleague met a young gypsy traveller who spoke of being verbally abused on the street, and attacked by people throwing stones.
“Many young people from gypsy traveller communities face barriers to accessing education – a very damaging abuse of their human rights which will have a negative impact on future generations.
“A recent Scottish Social Attitudes survey found 34 per cent of people in Scotland believed a gypsy traveller to be an ‘unsuitable’ candidate to be a primary school teacher. This shows we clearly have a long way to go in the campaign to change the way people perceive Scottish gypsy travellers.
“This ‘last acceptable form of racism’ should no longer be tolerated in Scotland.”
Community campaigner Jim Monaghan said he was appalled by the hate they face in Govanhill, Glasgow.
He said: “More needs to be done to stamp it out. Even now, we have seen the Roma subjected to one of the oldest slurs that they have faced for centuries – that they buy and sell their own children.
“A newspaper report claimed that there was evidence of Roma selling their children into prostitution.”
Traveller Davie Donaldson recently gave evidence to the Scottish Parliament highlighting the prejudice against his community.
University student Davie, 19, said views of his community had “remained stagnant” since the 80s.
He said: “For me to be the only traveller I know at university is horrendous.
“There are huge discrepancies in education between the settled community and the travelling community and that does act as a barrier for a lot of young travellers.”
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “We will publish a Race Equality Action Plan by the end of this year, which will include provision for gypsy travellers and will be followed by a detailed programme of action.”