Gypsy/Traveller e-petition to the Scottish Parliament

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Lynne
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Gypsy/Traveller e-petition to the Scottish Parliament

Post by Lynne » Mon Mar 22, 2010 8:39 pm

AXE THE ACT

Using Scottish Government guidance, local authorities and police forces are using section 3 of the ancient Trespass (Scotland) Act 1865 to move on Gypsy/Travellers from transient/temporary/halt sites. Section 3 empowers police officers to arrest, detain and present before a magistrate Gypsy/Travellers who are encamped on unauthorised sites.

This includes charging 16 year olds (classed as children under the United Nations definition of a child) and adults who have family members under the age of 18. We believe this practice contravenes Article 30 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child:

Young people have a right to learn and use the language and customs of their families, whether or not these are shared by the majority of the people in the country in which they live

and Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights:

The right to respect for private and family life: everyone has the right to respect for their private and family life, their home and their correspondence.

In Do the Right Thing the Scottish Governments response to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Childs recent Concluding Observations on the state of Childrens Rights in the UK, it has committed to reviewing its guidance on site management for local authorities. As part of that review, this petition calls on the Scottish Government to remove the Trespass (Scotland) Act 1865 from all future guidance on the management of transient/temporary/halt sites.

The e-petition can be signed here:

http://epetitions.scottish.parliament.u ... tionID=378

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