France deports Roma amid criticism

PARIS, Aug. 19 (UPI) -- France Thursday began to deport the first Roma as part of a crackdown on illegal camps in France, a move that has been criticized by human-rights groups.

Seventy-nine Roma Thursday boarded a government-chartered flight to Romania. Paris insisted the Roma left France voluntarily in exchange for a goodbye payment of $380 for adults and $125 for children.

The deportation is the first since President Nicolas Sarkozy ordered the destruction of 300 Roma camps across the country, and at least two more flights will leave for Romania over the coming weeks, officials said. Paris in total aims to deport around 700 Roma.

The European Commission Wednesday said it would closely follow the deportations in a bid that no EU rules are breached.

"We are watching the situation very closely to make sure rules are respected," Matthew Newman, spokesman for EU Fundamental Rights Commissioner Viviane Reding, was quoted as saying by news portal EurActiv. "If a state is deporting anyone, we must be sure it is proportionate. It must be on a case-by-case basis and not an entire population."

He added, however, that Brussels was confident Paris was not engaged in the latter.

Sarkozy ordered the closure of the camps after last month's violent riots, with camp inhabitants and police clashing after a youth was killed.

In the aftermath of the violence, Sarkozy's office issued a statement denouncing the camps as "sources of illegal trafficking, of profoundly shocking living standards, of exploitation of children for begging, of prostitution and crime."

While France has vowed the measures aren't meant to stigmatize any community, regardless of who they are, but to punish illegal behavior, immigration groups have accused Paris of pushing through racist policies.

"There is a huge problem of racism in France toward this population -- there is enormous discrimination," Henri Braun, a lawyer for the French Roma ethnic group, recently told Britain's Daily Mail newspaper.

And now there are signs of a diplomatic detente between France and Romania, the home country of most of the Roma.

On the eve of the deportations, Romanian Foreign Minister Teodor Baconschi told Radio France International he was "worried about the risks of populism and xenophobic reactions against the backdrop of economic crisis."

The Roma population in France is several hundred thousand strong, and many of them have been living in France for decades. Other Roma came to the country in recent years, mostly from new EU members Romania or Bulgaria.

Even if they go back, they will be able to re-enter France any time because of the free travel regulations inside the EU. However, they are allowed to settle only if they have a work visa or a residence permit.