Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (abbreviated to GRT) is an umbrella term used in the United Kingdom to represent several diverse ethnic groups which have a shared history of nomadism.
Although these groups' lifestyles traditionally involved travel, most GRT people now live in houses or permanent caravan berths.
GRT people are protected under the UK's equality of opportunity legislation; however, they face frequent discrimination and racism in their dealings with state bodies and the non-GRT community.
[8][9] Traditionally, the Romanichal and Kale spoke comprehensive variants of Romani until their dialects began to mix heavily with English and Welsh, respectively.
[14] The British Government,[3] academics[4][5] and pro-GRT advocacy groups,[10][1] the NHS[15] and local authorities[16] all use the term "Gypsies" to describe Romani populations that have been in the UK for centuries.
[8] Their traditional language was Kale Romani, a form of which survived in Wales into the 20th century and retained much more grammatical complexity than the Angloromani dialect that had developed in England by that time.
[30] In post-communist countries, many were forcibly settled by communist authorities and were invariably the first workers to be sacked from state industries during the transition to capitalism.
[6] For this reason, some scholars and organisations use the more inclusive term GRTSB (Gypsy, Roma, Traveller, Show People and Bargee).
[16] Brown, Scullion and Martin, writing in 2013, based on interviews with local authority officers, put the number of GRT people in the country at between 400,000 and 500,000.
[42] They also noted a 17.5% increase in the number of people identifying as Gypsies or Travellers, but stated that they believed this was still a significant under-counting across all GRT groups.
[44] A 2023 report by the Centre on the Dynamics of Ethnicity showed that 62% of Gypsies and travellers had experienced racially-motivated violence, the highest figure of all the groups surveyed.
[45] A specific example of discrimination in the Criminal Justice system given by the group was the 2003 killing of Johnny Delaney, an Irish Traveller boy who was kicked to death by non-Travellers.
[45] Negative portrayals of Gypsies, Roma and Travellers are common in the British press and on television and play a role in the creation of anti-GRT sentiment, and consequent discrimination, among the settled community.
[47] Research has shown an increase in hate crimes against GRT people immediately following the publication of articles and transmission of programmes which feature negative depictions of them.
[44][7][47] In 2004, the Daily Express published a campaign against the immigration of Roma from Eastern Europe following the accession of several new member states to the European Union.
[7] Journalists from the paper reported that they were pressurised by senior staff to write "anti-Gypsy" articles and called for the Press Complaints Commission to take action to protect them from these demands.
[7] However, the Crown Prosecution Service ruled that no direct link could be proven between the outbreak of hate crime and the paper's campaign, so no legal proceedings were initiated.
[50] In May 2020, Jeanette McCormick, the national police GRT lead, stated that there was no substance to the programme's central point that there is a link between higher crime and the presence of Traveller sites.
[44] A 2020 study by Naomi Thompson and David Woodger analysed the articles and comments on Gypsies and Travellers in the local press.
[47] They identified a cycle of discourse beginning with a press report of a new camp or incident which frames the presence of Travelling people as a problem.
[47] This is followed by the voicing of negative stereotypes about Gypsies and Travellers in the comment section, which escalate into hate speech, including proposals of violence and even genocide.
[47] On-line hate speech is then transferred into concrete action in the real world, as various means of harassing the Travellers are discussed and put into practice.
[47] GRT pupils underperform considerably in education, having on average the lowest attainment of any ethnic group at every stage of compulsory schooling.
[56][2] It is common for school and local authority bureaucracies to lack the flexibility to accommodate pupils with itinerant lifestyles, leading to a high level of absenteeism.
[2][56] The mediation of Traveller Education Support Services can also be a negative factor, as it can prevent direct contact between GRT parents and schools.
[2][56] Schools sometimes avoid accepting GRT children as they lack the funding to deal with students who have English as an Additional Language or special educational needs.
[30] Although no data currently exists for British Roma, it is likely that health inequalities both in the UK and their countries of origin will negatively affect life expectancy.
[43] Gypsies and Travellers have much higher rates of bronchitis, asthma and angina than the general population, as well as more problems with mobility, self-care, pain, anxiety and depression.
[58] Studies demonstrate that in the UK negative maternal and new-born health outcomes such as miscarriages, low birth-weight and infant mortality are more common among GRT people than the general population, and that this is also true across Europe.
[59] The reasons GRT people are prone to worse health outcomes include poorer living conditions, vulnerability to homelessness, low educational achievement, social exclusion, prejudice and discrimination and barriers to accessing healthcare.