Runnymede
In partnership with the University of Reading, Runnymede has launched a new website called Romans Revealed, which looks at just how diverse Roman Britain was.
Kingston Scorecard
Runnymede has launched the first race equality scorecard in Kingston.
The Scorecard project is an innovative way of collecting and monitoring data on racial inequalities and will enable local partners and stakeholders to hold service providers to account for racial inequalities in their areas.
The Runnymede Trust hosted its annual race debate in January, with this year's event focusing on whether racists have the right to be heard.
You can now watch the video in full of the debate by clicking here.
Runnymede has responded to the Government's consultation on measuring child poverty.
Runnymede
Roma and Gypsy families expelled from their homes in France
19 August 2010
The deportation of France’s Roma, Gypsy and Traveller communities, as part of President Sarkozy’s new anti-crime initiative began today.
Two planeloads of 93 people were scheduled to arrive in Bucharest this afternoon as part of a ‘voluntary reform procedure.’ Each adult that 'volunteers' to return is entitled to 300 euros compensation while children will receive 100 euros each.
Although they are EU citizens, the families are required under French law to have a valid permit to remain in the country after three months. 300 camps are expected to be dismantled by October 2010, while 700 Roma will be expelled by the end of August, reports the Guardian.
Human rights groups and the left-wing opposition have called the crackdown a crude and divisive policy being used to bolster the government’s right wing credentials.
Jean-Pierre Grand, a member of the governing UMP party has compared the raids to the round-ups of Jews and Gypsies during Nazi occupation. Teodor Baschonsi, Romania’s foreign minister told Radio France Internationale that he is ‘worried about the risks of populist provocation and the prompting of certain xenophobic reactions at a time of economic crisis.’
The European Commission states that it is closely monitoring the expulsions and that, while France does have the right to take measures regarding foreigners living on their territory, EU law requires that each person’s case is dealt with individually and the EU’s freedom of movement laws must be respected. The French government claims that its deportation procedure has complied with all legal mechanisms.
Almost 80 per cent of French people polled supported the deportation, according to a poll taken by Le Figaro newspaper, released on 6 August 2010. This number of supporters is likely to decrease, however, as images of police brutality during the camp raids are shown on television.
The Roma people are the largest ethnic minority community in Europe, including an estimated 7.9 million people. There are 15,000 Roma of Eastern European origins in France. The Roma still experience high levels of discrimination and inequality in many European countries including the UK. Runnymede has published two publications on the Roma community which can be found by clicking on the links below.
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The Runnymede Trust and a network of national organistions comitted to equal opportunities have expressed concerns to the Governments recent reform to transforming legal aid.
Please click here to read the submission response to the proposal.
The latest review of the National Curriculum by the Government proposes that no BME cultures or individuals are learned about until pupils are 11 years old.
Omar Khan, our Head of Policy Research, gave evidence at the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Dementia on the 21st March.
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