Twentieth century policies affecting Gypsy/Traveller communities in Scotland: archival research

Recommendations

The original tender document asked not only for the collection of evidence and its analysis but also for actionable recommendations. With this in mind, the following have been created based on:

1. analysis of the archival materials that were gathered as part of this research.

2. consultations with victims/survivors of the TE, and with members of G/T communities as part of the research process (and as outlined in Appendix 2).

3. recommendations that have been developed for other communities whose experiences mirror those of Gypsy/Travellers in Scotland (and in which the research team have existing expertise).^[380]

In doing so we hope to have created a set of recommendations that both meet the needs of the communities involved based on the evidence that we examined, and that also provide support to key stakeholders moving forward. We would also note that it is important to recognise that at the time of publication, there remain living victims of these policies whose stories still need to be heard and who need to receive appropriate redress.

Scottish Government

1. To issue an apology to Gypsy/Travellers in Scotland for the creation and enforcement of policies that directly implemented and fostered policies, such as the ‘TE’, that led to the dehumanisation, control, and assimilation of Gypsy/Travellers in Scotland, and for the lack of action to redress these actions that are best characterised as ‘cultural genocide’.^[381] The apology should meet the following conditions:

• Providing a public record of truth and/or acknowledging that suffering occurred in the many attempts to dehumanise, control, and assimilate the Gypsy/Traveller population, with the ‘TE’ being the foremost example.
• Ensuring that the stated truths and/or acknowledgements should specifically name the offending parties, behaviours, and their continued impact on survivors/victims in Gypsy/Traveller communities in Scotland.
• Taking responsibility and/or acknowledging the failure of the government to react to and prevent the conditions that led to ‘TE’ and other assimilationist policies and actions.
• Expressing sincere regret and promising the offence will not be repeated in the future. In building trust with the wider Gypsy/Traveller community of Scotland, steps must be articulated and taken by the government to ensure the well-being and bright future of Gypsy/Travellers in Scotland.

2. To initiate a socio-economic restitution scheme for survivors of the Tinker Housing Experiments located in this research and in future research. This scheme should include:

• Consultations across Scotland with Gypsy/Traveller survivors/victims of the ‘TE’ to locate immediate social and economic needs.
• Identifiable economic reparations for survivors/victims and their families; and
• Restorative justice and healing initiatives that assist survivors/victims looking to reconnect with family and Gypsy/Traveller culture.

3. To commence consultations with Gypsy/Traveller communities in the establishment of memorials and protected historical Gypsy/Traveller sites under the co-supervision of a national heritage-based charity and the Bobbin Mill-based charity organisation RAJPOT; This includes:

• Providing Bobbin Mill, as the first and only remaining intact site of the ‘TE’ with the recognition and protection of heritage status.
• Working with survivors, their descendants and families, to decide on an appropriate means of memorialisation for Gypsy/Traveller children forcibly sent abroad to labour and live away from their families in Commonwealth countries.

4. To commission much needed additional research into the ‘TE’ and other housing and child welfare policies affecting Gypsy/Traveller communities particularly in the 19th and 20th centuries, both archival and particularly lived experience. Such research should meet the following conditions:

• The research should be community-collaborative and trauma-informed in how it is structured and led. No research should be conducted without explicit consultation with survivors/victims of the violence being examined.
• The resources allocated for any research project must meet the threshold of what is necessary to conduct the research in a respectful, humanising, and sustainable manner. Time and funding allocations should attempt consultations with Gypsy/Traveller researchers before they are decided upon.

5. To support private archives, including with funding, to conduct internal audits and produce publicly available catalogues of all materials pertaining to the historical treatment and well-being of Gypsy/Travellers;^[382]

6. To establish a community-informed and co-led archive collating all materials relating to the government treatment and experiences of Gypsy/Traveller communities in Scotland. Archives that maintain models of community co-governance are now seen worldwide, with the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation as a model on which to base such a model.

Local authorities

7. To undertake an audit of the archival materials within their own current local authority area to see what is available, and what may potentially need to be collected.

8. To meet with local Gypsy/Traveller communities to begin considering how the experiences of Gypsy/Traveller communities in Scotland can begin to be added into the historical record in their local authority area, including at tourism or other sites where knowledge about the local area is shared with a wider audience.

9. To consider conducting listening exercises that highlight the historic, and potentially ongoing, impact of child welfare policies on Gypsy/Traveller communities within their local authority areas.

Police

10. To carry out a systematic review of ongoing relations with Gypsy/Traveller communities in Scotland and to begin to see this within its wider historical context.

11. To examine existing initiatives for better relations with Gypsy/Traveller communities in Scotland and to consider whether these need to be augmented in any way considering the evidence presented within this report.

Charities and Faith-based institutions

12. To establish their own truth-seeking exercises that examine their historic involvement in the forced assimilation and marginalisation of Gypsy/Travellers in Scotland.

13. To apologise for their role in the assimilation of wider Gypsy/Traveller communities in Scotland and to make restitution to the survivors/victims of programmes of which charities and churches were a part.

14. To educate their memberships on the history, cultures, and contributions of Gypsy/Travellers in Scotland and on the consequences of assimilationist rhetoric and actions

Educational Institutions

15. To continue developing policies to include the history, culture, and contributions of Gypsy/Travellers in Scotland, using community-informed resources, in the national curricula in Scotland.^[383]

16. To establish policies guiding all institutions of primary, secondary, and higher education to:

• include Gypsy/Travellers in all initiatives pertaining to Equality, Diversity, and Inclusivity, and
• Further develop equitable policies to encourage the enrolment of Gypsy/Traveller students.

17. To draft national guidance, which is community-informed, for all research pertaining to Gypsy/Traveller communities in Scotland. This guidance should address appropriate methodological approaches for academics in both the physical sciences and social sciences.^[384]

18. To have wider educational institutions - museums, libraries - consider how best to incorporate the histories of Gypsy/Traveller communities in Scotland into their current work, both in-person and online.^[385]

Media Institutions

Although media institutions do not have a separate chapter dedicated to them in this report, nevertheless they played a role in creating the environment that permitted the TE to occur and will continue to play a role in how attitudes towards Gypsy/Traveller communities in Scotland continue to be constructed.^[386] For this reason, we have also included the following recommendations for media institutions.

19. To establish their own truth-seeking exercises that examine their historic involvement in the dehumanisation and marginalisation of Gypsy/Travellers in Scotland.

20. To develop guidelines for journalists to counter racist bias and coverage towards Gypsy/Travellers in their reporting.^[387]

21. To apologise for their role, if so found, in exacerbating the marginalisation and dehumanisation of wider Gypsy/Traveller communities in Scotland. ^[388]