Jewish Community urges Govt to protect right to home for Gypsy, Roma and Travellers

A cross-denominational group of Rabbis and community leaders have signed René Cassin’s letter to the Home Office to express the Jewish Community’s concern over discrimination and racism targeted towards Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities in the UK.

The letter was sent in response to a Home Office statement regarding a crackdown on ‘illegal traveller sites’ as a way of ‘protecting our local communities’. René Cassin voices concern at “this use of discriminatory language, which legitimises the criminalisation of an entire community. It is this kind of discrimination that permeates the deepest levels of society, such that it is often not even recognised for what it is”.

You can read the letter in full here.

Statement from Mia Hasenson-Gross, René Cassin Director:

Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities together constitute Europe’s largest ethnic minority and they share a history of persecution with Jewish people. Recent studies have shown that Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities experience more racism and discrimination than any other group in the UK and face multiple disadvantages, such as with regards to education, health, the workplace and the justice system.

Representatives across the Jewish community have signed our letter to the Home Office to express concern over the faced by Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities in the UK.

The Jewish community stands in solidarity with Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities in eliminating prejudice and ensuring no one is denied the right to a home.

Both Jewish News and Traveller Times have written about this action of solidarity displayed by the Jewish community.