How human rights implementation by local authorities dealing with Traveller evictions could be improved – Exploring strategies through case study analysis in a Belgian municipality

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article aims to situate Traveller evictions within discussions on local authorities and their role in realising human rights. It focuses on the scenario where local authorities choose to merely tolerate rather than regularise Travellers’ housing situation, leading to forced evictions without culturally appropriate alternative accommodation. Through a case study in a Belgian city, three aspects will be examined. First, the local authority’s position will be evaluated against the case law of the European Court of Human Rights. Second, the article will analyse the involved actors’ human rights engagement. Based on these findings, a third aspect will be to briefly explore three strategies to improve local authorities’ human rights performance in this context: to further develop their position within human rights law and strengthen their engagement with the supranational level; to hold local authorities accountable in terms of human rights law at the domestic level; and to integrate a human rights framework into local authorities’ daily decision-making processes. It will be argued that these strategies show different strengths and weaknesses, highlighting the importance of cooperation between multiple levels and actors. Taken together, they hold the potential to reinforce each other and promote processes and outcomes truly benefitting human rights implementation.