Travellers call for end to discrimination
Groups around the world representing indigenous people like travellers in Ireland will call today for international co-operation to resolve discrimination.
August 9 is designated every year by the United Nations as the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples.
Irish travellers have forged links in the past with Aborigines in Australia, the Kogi in Colombia and the Maori in New Zealand.
Travellers face institutional obstacles every day in relation to human rights, education, health and economic and social development, a spokesman for Dublin-based lobby group Pavee Point said.
“In an Irish context, travellers are indigenous people who have been much maligned down the years,” he said.
“Pavee Point is using this special day to call on the Government to establish meaningful action-oriented programmes to stamp out discrimination for travellers and remove social and economic hardship for members of their communities.”
