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Destitute EU Mobile Citizens Should be Supported, not Criminalised

On 15 June 2017, FEANTSA, the Migrants’ Rights Network and Praxis will launch a complaint before the European Commission regarding the UK Government’s use of European Economic Area regulations to remove rough sleepers and their family members, on the basis that they are misusing their right to reside.

According to this approach, mobile EU citizens who are working or seeking work in the UK, or even who have been in the UK for less than 3 months, may be subject to administrative removal solely because they are sleeping rough.

FEANTSA believes that interpreting rough sleeping as a form of misuse of a right to reside contravenes EEA rules. For those vulnerable EU citizens and their family members (including children) who do not have sufficient resources to afford adequate accommodation and are bound to sleep rough, this interpretation is bizarre and cruel.

FEANTSA, Migrants’ Rights Network and Praxis encourage the European Commission to undertake all necessary steps to clarify the UK’s policies targeting some of the most vulnerable people in our society by starting investigations and launching a formal infringement procedure.

Click here to read the full press release