Students campaign for traveller rights in Warwickshire

Warwick Law students have been campaigning for improved gypsy-traveller rights in the local area.

The three finalists, Emma Monteith, Paris fisher Aziz and Terme Tabatabai have forwarded their recommendations to Warwickshire County Council.

The Council proposed new gypsy sites around the Leamington Spa, Rugby and Stratford areas, but the students questioned whether the housing would be adequate.

Their campaigning has involved liaising with groups and charities such as “Friends Families and Travellers”, the “European Roma Rights Centre” and the “British Institute of Human Rights.”

The group has succeeded in persuading the Council to reconsider a number of site proposals that would have seen gypsy and traveller communities being placed between Coventry airport runway and a sewage treatment plant, or along motorways.

Emma Monteith spoke of her relief at having their recommendations taken on board. She said: “We were shocked at the inadequacy of the council’s proposals and it was clear to us that human rights issues had not been taken into consideration .

We considered broad issues such as access to transport and noise pollution. I’m glad the Council have listened to us in some respect.”

The students’ research has been passed on to Councillor Lorna Coldicott, and forms part of their project for ‘Human Rights in Practice’ – a Law module at Warwick.

Paris emphasised the importance of the project in the local community and commented: “In terms of social deprivation, the gypsy and traveller community consistently rank as the most deprived group in the UK and the inadequate housing provisions adds to this.”

Terme added: “We have been campaigning since November and have gained a greater understanding human rights issues facing the local community in the process. Whilst it has been a challenging task we are confident in the positive impact of our project.”

Their research forms part of a project for the Law module, ‘Human Rights in Practice’.

According to the most recent government report of July 2013, there are currently 21,000 traveller caravans in the UK 2,700 of which are stationed on unauthorized encampments.