[Roma_Francais] French MPs vote to scrap special identity papers for travelling people

"Roma Virtual Network" romalo0804@yahoo.com (Roma_Francais)

French MPs vote to scrap special identity papers for travelling people

The lower house of France’s parliament voted late Monday in favour of cancelling special travel permits that worked as identity cards for nomadic people known as gens de voyage (travellers). 

While travellers' and rights groups hail the bill as a measure against discrimination, critics say it will not resolve France’s strained relations between nomadic and sedentary people. 

10/06/2015 - The proposal affects some 350,000 French citizens who fall into a legal category of travellers, which is used to refer to a number of ethnic groups including Manouches, Gitans and Roma – who are themselves not to be confused with Roma originating from outside the country.

France’s travellers tend to live in mobile homes and stay at special campsites managed by town councils, looking for work wherever they may be.

Since 1969 they have carried the livret de circulation, a permit that functioned as a sort of internal passport and granted access to camps and was used to access other social services.

However, travellers described difficulties in using the permits to access civil services, even though they theoratically have full legal rights as citizens.

Read more on http://www.english.rfi.fr/france/20150610-french-mps-vote-scrap-special-identity-papers-gens-de-voyage