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Who are France's ‘gens du voyage'?
Headlines in the regional French press featuring the term
gens du voyages
are rarely positive.
Articles in mid-June 2025 tell of them
being turned away from a Provencal town
. Another, from Beziers, reports an
'illegal' camp on a sports field
. A third explains that
a group was to be moved on from the Breton town of Auray
. One more reports ongoing
issues at a recently abandoned site in the Hauts-de-France commune of Neuville-Saint-Rémy
.
The term itself is neutral French administration-speak for Travellers - literally 'people who travel' - and refers to an administrative status intended for people who live permanently in a mobile land-based habitat (a caravan, in most cases) or who carry out an itinerant activity.
It has become, however, a – pejorative and discriminatory – catchall for several communities of people with their own traditions and customs. A recent study found that
the highest levels of discrimination in France were reserved for the Roma people
, echoing long-standing prejudice against gypsies and travellers that is seen across Europe.
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The four main groups that fall under the umbrella term of
gens du voyage
are: Oriental Roms, who came from North India in the 13th century and are mainly to be found in Central and Eastern Europe; the Sinti or Manouches, who are mainly settled in Germany and the northern France; Gitanos or Kalés, whose presence in southern France dates back to the Middle Ages; and the Yenish people, who are mainly settled in German-speaking and border countries, and also found in the Gard, Ardèche and Massif Central regions.
Some of those classified as Travellers are fairground workers.
There are some 350,000 to 400,000
gens du voyage
in France, though only about 15 percent of that number have recognisably itinerant lifestyles – as in they move from town to town – according to France's Défenseur des droits. Most tend to remain in one location.
In comparison, Insee data shows that in 2021,
France had 137,508 residents of British nationality
.
According to a
report by the Défenseur des droits published in October 2021
, travelling communities in France are routinely discriminated against in terms of housing, access to education and health. The report stated that more than one in two French people (52 percent) 'felt uncomfortable' at the idea of having Roma or Travellers as neighbours.
That discriminatory sentiment was echoed in a 2023 report by the Commission Nationale Consultative des Droits de l'Homme (CNCDH), which noted that 'the Roma remain the most stigmatised minority' and that, according to a majority of French people, they form a separate group in society.
The report called for the allocation of human and financial resources to the fight against 'anti-Gypsyism', as well as enhanced training on 'anti-Gypsyism' in journalism schools because Travellers are often associated with crimes or offences in the media.
What is now known as the Besson I law, passed in 1990, obliges towns with more than 5,000 inhabitants to provide permanent halting sites with suitable facilities for Travellers.
A decade later, Besson II obliged those same municipalities to participate in a 'departmental reception plan' for travelling communities and specifically stipulated Travellers' right to free movement in France.
Municipalities with fewer than 5,000 inhabitants, meanwhile, are not required to set up specific sites, but must still provide Travellers with somewhere to stay temporarily. 'Officially designated sites [in smaller communes] must have minimal facilities (including sanitation), for a minimum stay of 48 hours and a maximum of 15 days,' according to
Maires de France
.
However, by 2013, only around half the total number of sites planned in Besson II had been built – while only 30 percent of larger sites were ready.
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Many of these sites had been set up on the fringes of towns, or even outside them, where it was difficult to access local services, including public transport. Several were near potentially dangerous industrial zones – one at Rouen-Petit Quevilly was close to the
Lubrizol chemical plant – which hit the headlines when a large fire broke out in September 2019
.
As the headlines show, Travellers have often ignored sites set up for their use, and settled temporarily elsewhere, prompting a law in March 2007 that permitted local préfets to forcibly move on Travellers from illegally occupied land – if an area had been set up for their use.
Prior to January 2017, anyone living a Traveller lifestyle in France – that is to say someone with no fixed residence of more than six months in an EU Member State – was required to have a circulation permit demonstrating their right to move freely and was obliged to regularly report their movements to local police or gendarmerie.
No law specifies that itinerant communities must notify local authorities or mayors before their arrival – but it may be expected 'as a courtesy' – and Travellers may also be required to pre-book access to set sites.
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Nor is there any national law that limits how long Travellers can stay at specific sites set up by larger communes. However, a decree does state that a duration limit can be determined by local authorities within a certain framework.
'The maximum duration of the authorised stay is specified in the internal regulations of the reception area,' according to a 2007
memo from the ministère de l'Intérieur et de l'aménagement du territoire
. It adds: 'This duration must not encourage the sedentary lifestyle of Travellers in the reception areas, which leads to recommending a duration that does not exceed five months.'
France's attitude towards travelling communities – particularly the Roma, who are not listed as
gens du voyage
has long been controversial.
Following violence in response to two incidents in which French police shot and killed Roma, then-President Nicolas Sarkozy vowed in July 2010 to expel half of the 539 Roma squatting in camps.
The government initiated a programme to repatriate thousands of Romanian and Bulgarian Roma, as part of the crackdown. Between July and September 2010, at least 51 Roma camps were demolished, and France repatriated at least 1,230 Roma to Romania and Bulgaria.
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The European Commission threatened legal action against France, and EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding branded the expulsions 'a disgrace'.
In 2015 two incidents highlighted continuing French attitudes, the
mayor of Champlan stoked outrage when he refused to allow a Roma baby to be buried
because the municipal cemetery had 'few available plots'. The same year,
a union representing bus drivers in Montpellier, proposed the creation of a separate bus service for Roma people
following complaints.
It's a mistake to dismiss those two shocking articles as 'history'. The Council of Europe's European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) published a report on France's attitude to travellers in 2022 noting that 'Travellers/Roma [...] continue to face discrimination in all areas of life'.
It recommended that French authorities recognise caravans as a type of accommodation and to review parking restrictions in light of real needs; introduce a system for tracking identity checks by law enforcement; provide social support measures before any evacuation of an illegal camp and to accept legitimate requests for housing; and guarantee education of Roma and Traveller children – who, it has been reported, were being denied access to schools if their families had set up camps 'illegally'.
The French government launched a three-year National Plan to Combat Racism, Anti-Semitism and Discrimination Based on Origin in January 2023.
This was the first time such a plan addressed the issue of discrimination against Travelling communities. It aims to affirm the reality of racism and equal rights and opportunities; measure the phenomena of racism, anti-Semitism and discrimination; improve education and training; punish perpetrators and support victims of hate crimes.
