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BBC News
30-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
Scotland's travellers suffered 'cultural genocide', report says
Social experiments on Scotland's Gypsy travellers - including children being forcibly taken into care - were a form of "cultural genocide", new research schemes operated across Scotland in the last century which aimed to "settle" travellers by forcing them to leave their lives on the road for permanent settlements.A draft report of independent research commissioned by the Scottish government suggests there was also a "forced and systematic initiative" to remove traveller children from their families and Scottish government said it recognised that Gypsy traveller communities had been adversely affected through historical policies and would set out its response to the research soon. Efforts to "assimilate" travellers into Scottish society were first documented in the late 1800s, with the authorities wanting to force Gypsies into "normal" operation, known as the "Tinker Experiment", ran from the 1940s to 1980s and was supported by UK governments and Scottish local authorities at the time. In 2023 the Scottish government asked independent academics to research this experiment in the available archives.A draft of their findings was completed in September last year, and has been seen by BBC said that in addition to the well-documented housing issues, there was a "forced and systematic initiative to remove Gypsy/traveller children from their families and communities".This saw traveller children being placed into care, forced to attend industrial schools or adopted by non-traveller families in Scotland and report, produced by academics working for the Third Generation Project at the University of St Andrews, said churches, charities, local authorities, the police and the UK government's Scottish Office all played a role in academics recommend the Scottish government, as the body now responsible for the issue, issues an apology and consider paying compensation to those affected. 'Truths buried for decades' The draft report says that the apology should be for the polices, such as the Tinker Experiments, which "led to the dehumanisation, control, and assimilation" of travellers - as well as "the lack of action to redress these actions that are best characterised as 'cultural genocide'."Members of Scotland's traveller community have been campaigning for an apology for their treatment for years. The report's findings are explored in a new BBC podcast called 'The Cruelty - Stolen Generations'.Presenter Davie Donaldson, who comes from the traveller community, said: "I have spoken to many Scottish travellers whose families have been shattered and split apart because of the forced removal, generation after generation, of their children."This investigation has unearthed truths buried for decades, but now, with the leaked report, we have irrefutable evidence of what survivors and communities have long known - the state was complicit in the removal and segregation of traveller children."For the first time, it is named for what it was - cultural genocide." 'Trying to kill a culture' Martha, who asked for her surname not to be published, said she was forcibly removed from a Scottish traveller camp when she was just six months parents were out working while her grandparents were looking after her and her five siblings and who is now in her sixties, said all the children present were removed and she was eventually adopted by a non-traveller family."Genocide means killing something and that's what they were attempting to do by looks of things," she says."They were trying to kill a culture by taking the kids away, thinking that they would grow up with settled people and be like settled people."I think they should apologise. Because I stand firm in the fact that if it hadn't been for them, I would've known my parents, I would've known my three sisters and my two brothers that we were never told about."Fellow traveller Elizabeth, who also asked for her surname not to be published, said four of her siblings were forcibly removed when she was a 52-year-old said she and two other siblings were only able to stay with their parents because they all hid away in the Fife countryside, away from their traveller said: "We were happy when we were in the camp. We didn't have much, but we were happy."It's kind of destroyed a lot of people's lives, this separating families and taking bairns away from the folk and it should never have happened."They should be made responsible, including the churches and anybody else that was involved in it, because it's affected every one of us. I hope this government we have actually takes action." Understanding events Gypsy travellers were settled on sites across Scotland, including in Aberdeenshire, Argyll, Highlands, Perthshire, Fife and the said it was hard to pinpoint how many were forced from this life, or how many children were forcibly removed from the Scottish government said it had been working with local authorities' body Cosla on a £3m action plan aimed at supporting improvements to accommodation, education, healthcare and access to benefits for the traveller community.A Scottish Government spokesperson said: "We recognise that Gypsy/traveller communities have been adversely affected through historical policies and actions and we want to understand events as fully as possible."We are committed to ensuring the voices of Gypsy/traveller communities are reflected in key decision-making forums and continue to take forward measures in our joint action plan with Cosla to improve outcomes for Gypsy travellers."The spokesperson said the independent archival research had been undertaken to establish key events, decisions and roles and will be officially published in due course, after which the government will consider its next steps.
Daily Record
06-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Record
Victims of Scotland's ‘Tinker Experiment' work with human rights chiefs to get formal apology
The scheme, which ran between the 1940s and 1980s, was condemned as 'cultural genocide' after it attempted to integrate gypsy travellers into mainstream society. Victims of forced resettlement during Scotland's so-called 'Tinker Experiment' are working with human rights chiefs to get a formal apology. The scheme, which ran between the 1940s and 1980s, was condemned as 'cultural genocide' after it attempted to integrate gypsy travellers into mainstream society. Supported by the UK Government and Scottish local authorities, the programme saw families taken from their homes and forced into accommodation, including cramped huts at sites across the country. Families have reported they were threatened with having their children taken away and put into care if they did not take up the offer. Professor Angela O'Hagan, the Chair of the Scottish Human Rights Commission, said in a new blog and podcast that a team of experts are now working with traveller groups to work out how redress, including a formal apology, should be delivered to victims. She said: 'Scottish gypsy travellers have traditionally experienced some of the most brutal and institutionalised discrimination in Scotland. 'Anything involving the community with 'experiment' in the words should rightly gives us shivers. 'People are still living that legacy in terms of their own family relations and their own physical and mental health but they are also living that legacy in terms of the culturally inappropriate and inadequate we're seeing that right up to the present day.' Prof O'Hagan said experts had been working directly with victims of the 'experiment' since last summer to collate a report documenting the long-term impact on them as well as analysing how redress should be delivered. She said: 'We're scoping out, what are the legal standards? What are the frameworks? Is the evidence meeting the threshold for cultural genocide and what mechanism for redress and apology would be most appropriate? We're trying to provide that legal analysis to support the community.' The Commission's findings are expected to be published by the end of the year. Shamus McPhee, who grew up on the Bobbin Mill site in Pitlochry where he initially lived in a hut with no electricity, has campaigned for a public apology for victims of the scheme that 'decimated' life chances. He previously said it was a 'bone of contention' that formal apologies had been offered to other groups who suffered historic injustices, but not gypsy travellers. Scottish Labour Equalities spokesperson Paul O'Kane said: 'It is welcome that the Human Rights Commission is looking at these important issues. 'This was an incredibly dark time in Scotland's history and we await the findings and recommendations of this research by the Human Rights Commission.' Scottish Lib Dems Equalities spokesperson Christine Jardine MP said prejudicial and discriminatory behaviour had "blighted lives.' She said: 'The 'Tinker Experiment' is an ugly mark on our history and I am glad that the Scottish Human Rights Commission are exploring this issue." In 2021, Nicola Sturgeon said she would consider a formal apology and the Scottish Government went on to commission new research into the 'experiment' in a bid to 'understand events as fully as possible'. A delayed report is expected to be released in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, it emerged last month that gypsy travellers are still being 'systemically failed' in Scotland after housing regulators found 'serious' breaches of accommodation standards. Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. The Scottish Housing Regulator upheld complaints made by families at Perthshire's Double Dykes site and Bobbin Mill. Regulators found 'serious failing' in the standards of accommodation and the authority's approach to communication and engagement with residents. The investigation ruled that the council failed to meet its obligations under Scottish housing laws. Perth and Kinross Council disputed the findings and requested a review. The Scottish Housing Regulator reported failings at another Gypsy Traveller site at Tarvit Mill, in Fife, last year. A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: 'Through our Gypsy/Traveller Action Plan we are driving positive change and tackling inequality for communities across Scotland. 'In 2023 we commissioned independent research to better understand the impact past policies had on our Gypsy/Traveller communities. We are committed to learning important lessons from the 'Tinker Experiment' to ensure that the mistakes of the past are not repeated. 'The final version of the report will be published at the end of this month and we look forward to engaging with the Scottish Human Rights Commission in due course.'
