LONDON -- Britain is breaking international law by evicting hundreds of people from an illegal travelers' camp, an adviser to the United Nations said Wednesday.
Yves Cabannes of the U.N. Advisory Group on Forced Evictions said moving the Irish Travelers from their Dale Farm site infringes the rights to adequate housing and not to be forcibly evicted, and amounts to racial discrimination.
"The U.K. is infringing international laws," Cabannes said on a visit to the site, 30 miles east of London.
"The people who are abusing the law are the council, not the travelers," he added.
Local authorities have won an eviction order against 86 families who have been living illegally on the site of a former scrap yard since 2001. The residents own the land, but do not have planning permission to put houses or motor homes on it.
After years of legal wrangling, last month Britain High Court rejected a bid to halt the evictions, which are due to begin next week.
Tony Ball, leader of local authority Basildon Council, said officials had tried to find "a peaceful and humanitarian solution," but all attempts at negotiation had failed.
The council says it will try to find homes for the evicted Travelers.
"The U.N. refers to the rights of the families involved," Ball said. "Basildon Council respects those along with the rights of the vast majority of its residents who want this illegal camp moved after 10 years of stalling tactics by the travelers."
The British government's Department for Communities and Local Government backed the evictions, saying the courts "have found that the developments at Dale Farm are in breach of planning law and Basildon District Council is within its rights to evict Travelers from the site."
Irish Travelers have similar lifestyles too, but are ethnically distinct from Gypsies, also known as Roma. They have a nomadic heritage but now often settle in one place for years.
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