The government must suspend the "immature and unwise" eviction of 400 Travellers from Essex green belt and seek a peaceful solution, the UN and a European human rights group said.The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) used uncharacteristically robust language to express its "deep regret" at the £18m eviction at Dale Farm, the UK's biggest single eviction in modern times.
The UN was joined by Thomas Hammarberg, the Council of Europe's commissioner for human rights, who warned there was a great risk of human rights violations if 86 families and 100 children were forcibly removed .
"If they go ahead with the eviction that would be very immature and unwise," Hammarberg said. "The only way to do this is for the government or the authority in Basildon to appoint people who have trust on both sides to find an agreed solution."
The CERD, which met with both government officials and Richard Sheridan, chair of the Gypsy Council, in Geneva, ruled that the eviction would create hardship and "disproportionately affect the lives of the Gypsy and Traveller families, particularly women and children".
It called on the authorities to provide "culturally appropriate accommodation" before evictions were carried out.
Anastasia Crickley, an elected member of CERD, said "culturally appropriate" meant caravans so the Travellers could continue to support each other in their extended families rather than be separated and placed in flats and houses, as Basildon borough council has proposed.
"We're very conscious that Travellers and Gypsies already face considerable discrimination and hostility in wider society. We're deeply concerned that actions such as these could worsen the situation," said Crickley.
Amnesty International UK said the UN intervention showed the eviction had "become an international issue that is putting the UK to shame".
Tim Hancock, its campaigns director, said: "The UN committee's statement on Dale Farm gives the lie to the government's position that this is a matter for Basildon council and the Essex constabulary.
"Central and local authorities have a duty to comply with international human rights law and standards."
The Basildon Forum of Faiths, a multi-faith group which includes conflict resolution experts who have negotiated with Israelis and Palestinians, offered to bring Travellers, local people and Basildon borough council together in a neutral place to seek a solution.
Reverend Paul Trathen, its chair , said: "We haven't got a prescription or a sticking plaster that is ready prepared but I am someone who believes in last possibilities."
Tony Ball, leader of Basildon council, said the council had already accepted offers of mediation during the 10-year dispute.
"We've gone through the courts and it's been tested all the way to the court of appeal. As far as English law is concerned, we're in the right," he said.
"Everyone is entitled to their views. I'm clear that the overwhelming majority of residents of Basildon and in the country support what Basildon council are doing. Local authorities are expected to uphold the law.
"You or I wouldn't be able to build a house without planning permission. It's just a question of equality and being treated the same."
Ball said he was concerned about anarchists intent on causing violence entering Dale Farm. Campaigners from Sweden, Germany Italy, France, Holland and Belgium have joined "Camp Constant" at Dale Farm, erecting scaffolding and barricades and training Travellers in techniques of non-violent resistance.
Grattan Puxon, a veteran Gypsy campaigner, said: "I haven't seen any anarchists join as yet. There are some sensible students and graduates from Cambridge. All the people I've met are decent people who want to protect the camp."
Puxon said reports that activists will deploy Traveller children as "human shields" were incorrect.
"It is the other way round. We have a human shield to protect the children.
"That's what the adult residents and supporters are doing – protecting the children from the trauma of seeing their homes broken up."
Resident Kathleen McCarthy said: "These supporters are welcome here and we remain determined to stay. We will resist the bailiffs and build barricades but none of us have weapons or anything like that. We are a proud community and we are absolutely not interested in anyone who wants to come on here and cause trouble."
The high court this week ruled that the lengthy legal battle over the site had properly considered the human rights of Dale Farm residents.
Basildon council has promised there will be no dawn raids and a clear timetable for the eviction will be issued to Travellers, with the clearance by private contractors using bulldozers expected to take eight weeks.
The council is legally obliged to provide evicted Travellers with a place to live and is offering temporary "bricks and mortar" accommodation.
No Dale Farm Travellers have yet accepted and claim they will be forced to live on the roadside illegally so they can support each other.
The eviction is being subsidised with a grant from Department for Communities and Local Government of £1.2m for Basildon council and Home Office funds of up to £4.65m for Operation Cabinet, the Essex police operation.
Just over 3,000 Gypsies and Travellers – less than 20% of those still living in caravans – live on unauthorised sites in England.
A spokesman for the communities department said: "The courts have found that the developments at Dale Farm are in breach of planning law and Basildon council is within its rights to evict travellers from the site.
"It has taken 10 years of failed negotiations and legal process to reach this point, and the unprecedented level of unauthorised development on green belt land has severely damaged community relations."
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Source: Guardian
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