Gens du voyage (France)

The notion of gens du voyage (travelers) is an administrative concept created under French law to designate the community of travellers with no fixed residence, hence referred to as the nomadic community. The notion of "gens du voyage" remains very vague, as it does not avoid the possibility of stigmatization, linked to prejudices about a population that is widely diverse. The term was later taken up by the so-called Besson laws (Law on the reception and housing of Travellers), which organized the reception of Travellers on designated sites in municipalities with more than 5,000 inhabitants. The gens du voyage are French citizens in their own right, working in itinerant trade, construction and landscaping; fairground people are a "category" among them. More often than not, this nomadic lifestyle is the fruit of a family history. It is important to note that not all are itinerant; some have settled down and others have chosen to return to mobile housing after a period of sedentary living.

The French expression "gens du voyage" should not be confused with:

• Roms (lit. French for Romani people) as defined by the International Romani Union and its various groups (Gitanos, Sinti, etc.), some of whom have settled down, but who are only one component of this group;
• fairground people, or showmen, who are mostly, but not entirely, Roms;
• those whom some French people have confusedly call Roms over the last few decades: economic exiles from Romania, Bulgaria or the countries of the former Yugoslavia, where the vast majority are sedentary,^[1] and who are sometimes housed in precarious conditions;
• Irish Travellers, which is often a confusion when translating from one language to another,^[2] as these Travellers don't live in continental Europe.

The four main groups of European gens du voyage are: the so-called Oriental Roms, who came from North India in the 13th century and are mainly to be found in Central and Eastern Europe; the Sinti or Manouches, mainly settled in Germany and the large northern half of France; the Gitanos or Kalés, whose presence in the Iberian Peninsula and southern France is attested as far back as the Middle Ages; and the Yenish people, mainly settled in German-speaking and border countries, and also found in the Gard, Ardèche and Massif Central regions.

Described as "voleurs de poules" (lit. French for "chicken thieves") and subject to various forms of discrimination, the gens du voyage have repeatedly seen their freedom to come and go placed under close police surveillance. First with the anthropometric booklet instituted by a law of 1912 on the movement of nomads, then with the "carnets" and "livrets de circulation" (circulation booklets) introduced by the law of January 3, 1969 on "the exercise of itinerant economic activities and the regime applicable to persons moving in France without fixed domicile or residence".