The Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) community has always been deeply socially marginalised, over policed, and routinely discriminated against. This has resulted in their over-representation in the criminal justice system and prison population.
The Equality Act 2010 recognises most Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people as belonging to a distinct ethnic minority and therefore subject to protection from discrimination. The 2011 Census was the first to use Gypsy or Irish Traveller as a category, with the 2021 Census adding a ‘Roma’ category. In 2021, 0.12% of the population of England and Wales (71,440 people) identified as GRT. According to the Prisons Inspectorate, in 2019 5% of male and 6% of female prisoners identified as GRT.
The passing of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts (PCSC) Act 2022 gave the police extended enforcement powers to evict GRT communities from unauthorised encampments, as well as to ban GRT communities from an area or from a whole Local Authority. If people refuse to leave their sites, the police are then empowered to seize their homes, and to fine and in some cases imprison them. These new measures, on top of the existing institutional discrimination and racism against the GRT community, have made it increasingly difficult to access any suitable or safe sites in which to live a nomadic way of life. Abbie Kirkby, head of policy and public affairs at Friends, Families and Travellers said; ‘The new police powers are part of a wider hostile environment against the Traveller community.’
In May 2024, the High Court ruled that sections of the PCSC Act 2022 were discriminatory and a violation of Travellers’ right to family life under the Human Rights Act 1998. The landmark judicial ruling was declared ‘highly significant’ by the lawyers who brought the case on behalf of Romani woman Wendy Smith, who was supported by a host of traveller support groups. Mark Willers, one of the barristers representing Wendy Smith, said ‘the court recognised that there is a lack of lawful encampments for Gypsies and Travellers and that unless the government increased provision, the law as currently drafted, will amount to unjustified race discrimination.’
Nancy Hawker, Policy and Research Officer for London Gypsies and Travellers (LGT) said: ‘People in caravans have been stuck in a pothole, between the failure of authorities to permit or provide authorised pitches and the laws that put them in prison and confiscate their property when parked on unauthorised sites. LGT is encouraged by the High Court’s declaration that sections of the Police Act are incompatible with human rights legislation. Now we would like to see the provision of as many authorised transit and permanent pitches as are needed to protect the Gypsy, Roma and Travellers’ nomadic way of life, after decades of neglect and discrimination.’
Whilst this judgement is an extremely positive step, ‘declarations of incompatibility’, as issued by the court in this case, and others when domestic law is found to breach the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), do not bring about any immediate change. Instead it is now up to Parliament to review these provisions within the Act, to ensure compatibility with the ECHR.
As has always been the case, while court rulings are useful it is other forms of action which are crucial to the defence of democratic and human rights. The High Court ruling came just days before Romani Resistance Day on 16 May, which celebrates the uprising of Sinti and Roma people held in the Auschwitz Nazi concentration camp. It showed that when GRT communities organise and unite, they possess the power to resist their criminalisation and disempowerment.
John Bowden
FIGHT RACISM! FIGHT IMPERIALISM! 303 December 2024 /January 2025
