George Soros Urges France to Stop the Mass Expulsion of Roma

NEW YORK—The deportation of Roma now underway in France runs the risk of violating French and European law, today said George Soros, financier and philanthropist. Men, women, and children in Europe cannot be expelled on grounds of their ethnic origin without legal process to determine whether they have committed crimes.

“It is because the Roma face appalling discrimination at home that they continue to migrate across Europe,” said Soros, chairman of the Open Society Foundations, in an open letter to European leaders. “The French government was right to call for measures to improve employment and development opportunities for Roma in their countries of origin, in this case Bulgaria and Romania.”

EU member states have primary responsibility for the well-being of their citizens, he said and called for the swift implementation of policies to promote inclusion in employment, education, health care, and housing at the local and national levels. But the scale of the problem demands a comprehensive and effective plan for Roma inclusion at the EU level, said Soros.

In 2009, the EU endorsed the principle of using structural funds administered by the European Commission to fund housing for marginalized communities, with a particular focus on Roma. Soros called for the guidelines of these funds to be amended to include funding for education from early childhood, when it is most needed to integrate Roma children into school, rather than just job training. Given the fact that one-third of the entrants into the labor force by 2015 will be Roma in countries such as Hungary, he warned that Europeans could not afford another lost generation of Roma. 

George Soros’ Open Society Foundations have given nearly $150 million to improve the lives of Roma by removing barriers to education, health, and employment.

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Active in more than 70 countries, the Open Society Foundations work to build vibrant and tolerant democracies whose governments are accountable to their citizens. Working with local communities, the Open Society Foundations support justice and human rights, freedom of expression, and access to public health and education.