Abstract
Olivier Legros and Marion Lièvre use their research in the Paris regions and Montpellier, as well as more recent research in other parts of France, to analyse the processes through which securitarian policies targeting the Roma are constructed. They also analyse the aims as well as the effects of these policies on the practices of the target group. The authors show that, far from remaining passive, Roma migrants devise various practices which allow them to resist the pressures of the institutions while consolidating their social position, particularly among their peers.
This chapter draws on work funded as part of the French research programme Marg-In (2016–2019)—‘Marginalization/Inclusion: Medium/long term effects of foreign poverty regulation policies on target populations: the case of “Roma” Migrants in Western European cities (France, Italy, Spain)’, supported by the French National Research Council (ANR). We very much thank Ana Ivasiuc, Regina Kreide and Huub van Baar for their critical reading and particularly Ana Ivasiuc for her support in the translation from French to English.
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Notes
- 1.
This policy category designates migrants from Central European or Balkan states with scarce financial means living in precarious housing conditions and rightly or wrongly designated as ‘Roma’.
- 2.
We use the category ‘illicit camps’ as the official expression to designate groups of shacks on land occupied without authorization, and as a policy category. But we prefer to use the expression of ‘slums’, a category which, in our view, matches the realities we observed on our fieldwork better: housing affected by the precarity of the construction material and the land tenure, but that, unlike camps, is not perceived as ephemeral.
- 3.
We define ‘illegalization’ as a process of categorization of human activity, which is realized through legal procedures and political speeches (see also, and more extensively, De Genova 2002).
- 4.
By convention with the editors of the book, and considering the Anglo-Saxon language uses, we use the category of ‘Roma migrants’ to designate the migrants whom we have met during fieldwork; they come from Romania, have scarce financial means and live in precarious housing conditions. Simultaneously, we acknowledge that the term ‘Roma migrants’ is the result of heterogeneous collective identification processes.
- 5.
The names of the people and towns are anonymized.
- 6.
Insertion through economic activities (IAE) comprises social and professional insertion measures proposed by private companies or specialized organizations to persons considered ‘very far from employment’.
- 7.
Art. 27.1 and 2 of the Directive 2004/38/CE of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on the right of citizens of the Union and their family members to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States.
- 8.
Indeed, the law introduces a new article defining the different types of abuse of rights: ‘renewing residence permits for less than three months with the aim of remaining on the territory, while the conditions required for a residence period above three months are not fulfilled’ and ‘residence in France essentially with the aim of acceding social benefits’ (art L 511-3-1).
- 9.
Ministère de l’Intérieur, 2010, Circulaire IOCK1016329J du 24 juin 2010 relative à la lutte contre les campements illicites, https://www.interieur.gouv.fr/Media/Immigration/Files/Circulaire-IOCK1016329J-du-24-juin-2010-relative-a-la-lutte-contre-les-campements-illicites (accessed 28 August 2017).
- 10.
Circulaire interministerielle NOR INTK1233053C du 26/08/2012 relative à l’anticipation et à l’accompagnement des opérations d’évacuation des campements illicites http://circulaire.legifrance.gouv.fr/pdf/2012/08/cir_35737.pdf (accessed 28 August 2017).
- 11.
See http://www.gouvernement.fr/campements-un-programme-d-insertion-par-l-emploi-dans-l-essonne (accessed 13 July 2017).
- 12.
‘The administrative authority may, by a motivated decision, join to the OQTF… a prohibition to circulate on the French territory of a maximum length of three years’ (law 2016-274, art. L. 511-3-2, of 7 March 2016).
- 13.
This cooperation is recent, since before the end of the transitory measures in 2014, few migrants were accessing social benefits.
- 14.
Article 551-1 and 561-2-6, CESEDA (Code for Entry and Residence of Foreigners in France and the Right of Asylum).
- 15.
MOUS (Maîtrise d’oeuvre urbaine et sociale) is a mechanism of housing integration often used in interventions targeting Romanians in precarious housing (squats or camps).
- 16.
‘Making scrap’ is a term widely used among migrants and civil constituents to refer to the collection and preparation of recyclable metal products.
- 17.
See, for instance, the ongoing research under the REPIN programme ‘Roma migrants: from the processes of urban exclusion to resources for integration’, CEE, Sciences Po, Paris, led by Tommaso Vitale, 2014–2017.
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Legros, O., Lièvre, M. (2019). Domestic Versus State Reason? How Roma Migrants in France Deal with Their Securitization. In: van Baar, H., Ivasiuc, A., Kreide, R. (eds) The Securitization of the Roma in Europe. Human Rights Interventions. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77035-2_4
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