UN attacks France over human rights

French rout gipsy camp in migrant crackdown

FRANCE has come under fire from the United Nations’ human rights commissioner over its treatment of Roma gipsies.

While criticising countries such as Syria and Bahrain, Navi Pillay also singled out the French for forcibly deporting illegal eastern European immigrants.

They are being forced out of their homes on illegal campsites across France and deported to Romania or Bulgaria.

At the opening of the 21st session of the UN’s Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, Miss Pillay said she was ‘concerned about the recent closures of Roma camps in France, which affected hundreds of people, making them more vulnerable’.

She added: ‘I recognise that a number of measures have been taken by the government, but further efforts should be made to remedy this situation in the framework of the national strategy for Roma integration and full compliance with international standards of human rights.’ A French government source insisted that the country was doing all it could to deal ‘sensitively’ with the problem of illegal Roma gipsies and was ‘shocked by the criticism’.

President Francois Hollande said the French minister of the interior and the minister for European affairs would go to Romania tomorrow ‘for this problem to be treated at the source’.

Miss Pillay expressed similar criticism of Greece, where there has been a surge in racist attacks against immigrants.

She said: ‘Equally troubling are violent xenophobic attacks against migrants, refugees and asylum seekers in recent months, for example, in Greece.

‘I am also concerned about reports that the police appeared to have been unable to respond effectively to protect victims of xenophobic crimes.’

Yesterday supporters of Greece’s Right- wing party Golden Dawn attacked street stands run by migrant vendors.

In response, the state has withdrawn bodyguards for members of the party.

In Syria, thousands have been killed as the regime of Bashar al-Assad tries to put down a revolt that started during last year’s ‘Arab spring’, while Bahrain’s rulers have also been accused of attacking their own people as they try to stay in power.