Written question asked by Baroness Whitaker (Labour), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Baroness Hanham (Conservative) on Monday, 28 March 2011.

Gypsies and Travellers

Question: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will place in the Library of the House their reply to the letter from the chair of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination of 10 March 2010 urging them to suspend the eviction of Gypsy and Traveller families from Dale Farm, Essex.

Answer: The chairman of the United Nations Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination wrote to Her Majesty's Government about the Dale Farm traveller site on 12 March 2010. The Government replied on 10 May explaining that the United Kingdom had not recognised the committee's authority to receive and consider individual complaints and so would not be replying to the substance of the committee's letter. I have arranged for a copy of the correspondence to be placed in the Library of the House. I also refer the noble Baroness to the answer Baroness Wilcox gave Lord Avebury on 21 December 2010 (Official Report, col. WA 295) about a separate letter on the Dale Farm site from the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing. The Special Rapporteur's summary of that correspondence has now been published and I have arranged for a copy to be placed in the Library of the House.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 7874; 726 c216-7WA
Session: 2010-12
Related items: Deposited Paper DEP2011-0545
Tuesday, 29 March 2011
Deposited papers
House of Lords; Gypsies and Travellers
Thursday, 9 June 2011
Written questions
House of Lords; Housing
Tuesday, 21 December 2010
Written questions
House of Lords
Subjects: Caravan sites Essex Evictions Travellers UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk