UN and Dale Farm

[mark at tlio.org.uk]

Media Briefing: UN and Dale Farm
Date: Wed, 14 Sep 2011 12:48:42 +0100
From: Dale Farm Solidarity <savedalefarm at gmail.com>


*Media briefing*

  - British government still to respond to UN High Commissioner’s 
request for official visit to mediate Dale Farm dispute
  - UN Advisory Group on Forced Evictions to visit Dale Farm today


As the forced eviction of Travellers from their homes on the former 
scrapyard at Dale Farm fast approaches, the United Nations has become 
increasingly anxious that international law is being ignored by the 
British government and a local authority, Basildon Council.


On 5 August, two UN human rights experts, the UN Special Rapporteur on 
adequate housing, Raquel Rolnik and UN Independent Expert on minority 
issues, Rita Izsák, called on the British government to find a 
peaceful and appropriate solution with adequate alternative housing 
for the 86 Traveller families faced with forced eviction, before the 
end of August.  “Evictions constitute a grave breach of human rights 
if not carried out with full respect for international standards,” 
warned the Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, Raquel 
Rolnik. “We urge the UK authorities to
halt the evictions process and to pursue negotiations with the 
residents until an acceptable agreement for relocation is reached in 
full conformity with international human rights obligations.” The 
British government did not respond.

Then on 2 September, the United Nations issued a strongly worded 
statement ‘expressing its deep regret at the insistence of the United 
Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland authorities to proceed 
with the eviction of Gypsy and Traveller Families at the Dale Farm in 
Essex before identifying and providing culturally appropriate 
accommodation.’ The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of 
Racial Discrimination called on the British government to halt the 
forced eviction. Again the British government did not respond.

Last week, noting that the British government had not sought a 
peaceful solution that respected human rights, as called for by the 
UN, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva 
officially contacted the UK Government and is awaiting it's response 
to several items, including an offer that the Office of the UN High 
Commissioner’s Regional Representative, Jan Jařab, could visit and 
attempt to mediate on the spot. The enormity of the issue is clear: 
this is is the first time that the UN has offered mediation in a 
difficult situation on the ground in Western Europe. The British 
government, again, has yet to respond.

The UN Habitat Advisory Group on Forced Evictions* *will hold a press 
conference at Dale Farm on Wednesday 14 September at 13.00 to* *launch 
a report on the evictions of Gypsies and Travellers in the London 
Region. The chair of the UN group, the internationally respected 
author and planning specialist Prof Yves Cabannes, accuses the UK 
government of double standards over the treatment of Travellers at 
Dale Farm.

And on 13 August, Sir Richard Jolly, the former Deputy 
Executive-Director of UNICEF and UN Assistant Secretary-General said 
in a message to the residents of Dale Farm “I have been following 
events at Dale Farm with a growing sense
of outrage. I spent twenty years of my life as an Assistant Secretary 
General of the United Nations - almost fifteen of them with UNICEF at 
the time of the formulation, adoption and ratification of the 
Convention on the Rights of the Child.” Sir Richard went on to point 
out that “The convention and these articles apply to children in Dale 
Farm along with other
provisions for Human Rights as the United Nations has made clear. The 
UK government, having given solemn commitments to the Convention on 
the Rights of the Child has clear obligations to ensure that its 
provisions are fulfilled.”

This is an unprecedented volume of United Nations condemnation on the 
plans to forcibly evict Travellers from Dale Farm next week. Will the 
British government continue to ignore the United Nations and human 
rights?

For interview and comments please email or phone:

    Dale Farm Solidarity
savedalefarm at gmail.com
07583761462

UN Experts statement on Dale Farm:
http://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=11282&LangID=E

UN CERD statement on Dale Farm:
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cerd/docs/statements/DaleFarm_Statement.pdf