Hasbara Buster
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Amnesty: EU states fail to protect Roma
Amnesty International says many of the 10 to 12 million Roma living in Europe face “the daily threat of forced eviction, police harassment and violent attacks.”
In a report on International Roma Day on Tuesday, the rights group said that European countries are failing to protect their Roma communities.
Amnesty blamed European leaders of echoing populist anti Roma sentiment, saying they fueled violence against the community by branding it anti-social and unwelcome.
“The conditions in which many Roma are forced to live, is a damning indictment of years of official neglect and discrimination,” the report stated.
Amnesty said in its report that the European Union has been “reluctant to challenge member states on the systemic discrimination of Roma that is all too evident.”
It also accused the European Commission of failing to take clear and decisive action to address violence and discrimination against Roma.
Amnesty’s report showed that many of France’s 20,000 Roma people live in extreme poverty in makeshift settlements with little or no access to basic services, and at constant risk of forced evictions.
It also cited several examples of alleged police brutality against the community, including spraying tear gas inside tents where children were sleeping and beating up one man in Marseille in southern France.
The rights group also documented an example in Greece, where police were accused of harassing Roma, conducting some 1,130 operations against their settlements in the first nine months of 2013.
Amnesty said Roma communities in the Czech Republic were also subjected to systematic harassment, linked with anti-Roma protests, across the country last year.
EU leaders have repeatedly blamed Roma community for “failing to integrate” into their societies, saying they should be transferred back to Romania and Bulgaria, home to the biggest population of the Roma people.
PressTV - Amnesty: EU states fail to protect Roma
Amnesty International says many of the 10 to 12 million Roma living in Europe face “the daily threat of forced eviction, police harassment and violent attacks.”
In a report on International Roma Day on Tuesday, the rights group said that European countries are failing to protect their Roma communities.
Amnesty blamed European leaders of echoing populist anti Roma sentiment, saying they fueled violence against the community by branding it anti-social and unwelcome.
“The conditions in which many Roma are forced to live, is a damning indictment of years of official neglect and discrimination,” the report stated.
Amnesty said in its report that the European Union has been “reluctant to challenge member states on the systemic discrimination of Roma that is all too evident.”
It also accused the European Commission of failing to take clear and decisive action to address violence and discrimination against Roma.
Amnesty’s report showed that many of France’s 20,000 Roma people live in extreme poverty in makeshift settlements with little or no access to basic services, and at constant risk of forced evictions.
It also cited several examples of alleged police brutality against the community, including spraying tear gas inside tents where children were sleeping and beating up one man in Marseille in southern France.
The rights group also documented an example in Greece, where police were accused of harassing Roma, conducting some 1,130 operations against their settlements in the first nine months of 2013.
Amnesty said Roma communities in the Czech Republic were also subjected to systematic harassment, linked with anti-Roma protests, across the country last year.
EU leaders have repeatedly blamed Roma community for “failing to integrate” into their societies, saying they should be transferred back to Romania and Bulgaria, home to the biggest population of the Roma people.
PressTV - Amnesty: EU states fail to protect Roma
