France: Replacement Directive Omits Word ‘Roma’

Source: NY Times

Following revelations that French officials had been ordered to specifically single out ethnic Roma in an continuing security campaign, Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux on Monday signed a replacement directive in which the word “Roma” does not appear.

The ministry gave no explanation for the change, but humanitarian groups and opposition politicians had denounced prior Interior Ministry documents, made public last weekend, as racist and potentially illegal. Amid international outcry, Immigration Minister Éric Besson, above, had made repeated assurances that no French measures had been aimed specifically at the Roma. On Monday, Mr. Besson said he had not been aware of the Interior Ministry order to the contrary.

In August, the French government began publicizing the destruction of illegal Roma camps and the ensuing deportations.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/14/world/europe/14briefs-FRANCE.html

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Oops. Besson previously maintained that the Roma were not targeted by the French government. Turns out government documents show that is exactly what did happen, so he issues a "replacement directive" (after the fact) that eliminates the term "Roma" so it now appears that they weren't targeted after all. I'm sure that will satisfy liberal critics (there being no conservative critics) of the government crackdown on the Roma. ;)

wink wink

It was balatantly obvious that they were targeting the Roma even before they got caught having spelled it out in the directive.

As much as they'd like to, they can't just 'disappear' the facts and the evidence that already are a matter of public record.

K&R

policy a "disgrace".

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2010/09/2010914102550355478.html

The European Union may take legal action against France for its expulsion of hundreds of Roma, the bloc's justice commissioner has said. Viviane Reding described last month's deportations as a "disgrace" on Tuesday and said that France had been duplicitious in how it dealt with European authorities over the issue.

"This is not a minor offence in a situation of this importance," she said. "After 11 years of experience in the commission, I even go further - this is a disgrace. Discrimination on the basis or ethnic origin or race has no place in Europe."

Authorities had also denied that the expulsions targeted an ethnic group, saying they were on a case-by-case basis. But news reports of a government letter ordering regional officials to speed up a crackdown on camps of Roma contradicted this. Reding, referring to the letter, criticised the government for giving assurances to the EU commission that it was not discriminating against the ethnic minority.

"It is my deepest regret that political assurances given by two French ministers is now openly contradicted," she said. "I personally have been appalled by a situation which gave the impression that people are being removed from a member state of the European Union just because they belong to a certain ethnic minority," she told a news conference in Brussels, the Belgian capital. "This is a situation I had thought Europe would not have to witness again after the Second World War."