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- Fear and Uncertainty as Dale Farm Travellers Face Eviction, August 30, 2011
- Dale Farm Eviction: Report Claims Council May Be Acting Unlawfully, June 13, 2011
- Dale Farm May Be Saved By New European Plans, May 30, 2011
- MPs Want Dale Farm Eviction Called Off, April 26, 2011
- Dale Farm: NO PASARAN!
- Dale Farm Legal Challenge to £13 Million Eviction Operation, March 15, 2011
- Council of Europe Visit Raises Dale Farm Spirit, February 16, 2011
- MP Seeks Dale Farm Talks as Eviction Plan Falters, December 28, 2010
- Dale Farm: Labour Party Oppose Forced Eviction, December 8, 2010
- Dale Farm May Be Winning Battle For Commonsense, November 11, 2010
- Dale Farm: Judgment Reserved on Homeless, October 24, 2010
- Dale Farm Prepares to Meet Constant Eviction, October 5, 2010
- Travellers Under Pressure to Abandon Community Living, September 20, 2010
- UK Gypsy Homes Bulldozed as UN Deadline Approaches, June 30, 2010
- The Dale Farm Eviction May be a Criminal Conspiracy, June 27, 2010
- Cameron Tested by Dale Farm Proposal, May 14, 2010
- UN Backs Call to Halt Big UK Gypsy Eviction, April 14, 2010
- Travellers' Genocide Protest Upsets Basildon Council Head, October 30, 2009
- UK: Then They Came For the Gypsies, October 25, 2009
- Dale Farm Eviction Contract Attracts Notorious Bailiffs, July 19, 2009
- Lords Won't Hear Dale Farm Appeal, May 14, 2009
- UN Backs the Dale Farm Travellers in Their Fight Against Eviction, April 29, 2009
- Dale Farm Travellers Face Eviction After UK Appeals Court Ruling, January 22, 2009
- Dale Farm Travellers Face Racism and Prejudice as Court Mulls Appeal, December 19, 2008
- Dale Farm Community Center Faces Demolition as Eviction Threat Resurfaces, September 26, 2008
- Britain's High Court Lifts the Threat of Eviction from the Dale Farm Travellers, May 13, 2008
- Defiant Travellers Open Community Center as Britain's High Court Prepares to Rule on Their Eviction, May 5, 2008
- Dale Farm Eviction Crisis Reaches the British High Court, February 14, 2008
- Dale Farm Travellers Win Key Concession as Eviction Deadline Approaches, December 11, 2007
- Success for Traveler Advocacy in UK As Eviction Threat Lifts at Dale Farm, July 9, 2007
- AP Peace Fellow Defends Traveler Rights, Arouses British Ire, June 12, 2007
- Urban Sprawl Trumps Minority Housing Rights in UK as Dale Farm Travelers Again Face Eviction, March 2, 2007
- Traveler Evictions in the UK Are ‘Hazardous to Environment and Children’s Health’ Claim Advocates, November 1, 2006
- Travelers Face Eviction Despite Intervention, July 29, 2005
- Showdown Looms as Advocates Seek to Avert Violent Eviction of 600 Travelers in the UK, July 13, 2005
- English Gypsy Women Warn of Possible “Deaths” from Forcible Evictions, and Appeal for International Mediation, April 8, 2005
- Roma Evictions Erupt Across Europe as New ‘Decade’ Seeks to End Discrimination January 31, 2005
- Dictionary.com Removes Offensive Gypsy Definition in Response to Grassroots Campaign, September 22, 2004
- New Funding Grants $8,000 to International Roma Women’s Network, June 1, 2004
- Roma: Roma Women Activists Challange European Governments Over Health Crisis, September 11, 2003
- The International Roma Women's Network is Launched, March 8, 2003
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UN Backs the Dale Farm Travellers in Their Fight Against Eviction, April 29, 2009
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AdvocacyNet
News Bulletin 181
April 29, 2009
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Basildon, UK: A United Nations committee is calling on the Basildon District Council to freeze its plans to bulldoze Britain's largest Traveller community, at Dale Farm in southeast England.
Yves Cabannes, Chair of the UN Advisory Group on Forced Evictions, visited Dale Farm last week (April 23), and told residents that they should not have to negotiate with the Council while under the threat of eviction.
"We have heard you say you want to stay where you are," said Mr Cabannes (shown below, with residents), who is also a professor at University College London. "We support you in that."Yves Cabannes at Dale Farm
About 90 families at Dale Farm stand to lose their homes following a January ruling by the British Court of Appeal that allows the eviction to proceed. The Court decision overturned an earlier May 2008 High Court ruling ordering the Council to find alternative land for the Travellers. A final appeal to the British House of Lords is being pursued.
The Advocacy Project (AP) has supported the Travellers since they were ordered out in June 2005 and sent two Peace Fellows to volunteer at Dale Farm.
The UN intervention occurred as a result of the first face-to-face discussion between the Basildon Council Leader, Malcolm Buckley, and Dale Farm residents. Mr Buckley, who has since resigned his post, initially agreed to a closed meeting with seven residents. But members of the Essex Racial Equality Council, Essex Fire & Rescue Service and the UN group also insisted on attending.
In total, 20 Dale Farm residents expressed fears for the safety of their children, the elderly and the sick in the event of an eviction. Afterward, Mr Cabannes assured them that his committee's report to the British government would recommend against an eviction. He said the UK has signed international legal agreements that strongly oppose forcible evictions.
Mr Cabannes also commended the Dale Farm residents for their resistance, and praised them as an example to all Roma who are fighting anti-Gypsy racism in Europe.
The Travellers are defined as a distinct ethnic group by British law and have long been targets of discrimination in the UK. The Dale Farm crisis erupted in June 2005, when the Council ordered the Travellers to leave because they were living on Green Belt land that is protected from development by environmental regulations. The Council issued a second eviction order in 2007.
After the latest Court of Appeal decision, the Council promised that families would be given 28 days warning before any eviction. With Mr Buckley's resignation, much will now depend on Council Member Tony Ball, who is likely to succeed Mr Buckley as leader of at the end of May.
Advocates hope that the financial crisis will persuade the Council to consider giving planning permits to all Travellers who own land at Dale Farm. The two court rulings both agree that the Travellers cannot be made homeless, but finding new housing for all 90 families could be costly.
In the event of an eviction, local churches have offered to provide shelter to children and other vulnerable Travellers. Lord Eric Avebury, a member of the British House of Lords, has also organized a May 14 meeting at the Houses of Parliament, to brief potential human rights monitors and the UN group on their roles in the event of an eviction.
- Read the Court of Appeals decision
- Read the High Court decision (May 2008)
- Read AP Executive Director Iain Guest's Washington Post Article on Dale Farm
- See a timeline of the Dale Farm case
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