- 18 - THE LAW PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS The “Roma” to whom the complaint relates 26. The Committee raises, firstly, that the present complaint follows up on a series of three decisions on the merits in complaints, in which the Committee has examined, in total or in part, allegations raised by Médecins du Monde on the situation of Roma in France: - European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) v. France, complaint no. 51/2008, decision on the merits of 19 October 2009 (concerning the situation of the travellers and migrant Roma): violations of Articles 16, 19§4c, 30 and 31§§1 and 2 and of Article E taken together with Article 16, 30 and 31 (only the allegations concerning Article 19§4c concerned migrant Roma, the rest of them concerned travellers); - Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) v. France, complaint no. 63/2010, decision on the merits of 28 June 2011 (concerning the situation of the Roma): violation of Article E taken together with Article 19§8 and 31; - European Roma and Travellers Forum (ERTF) v. France, complaint no. 64/2011, decision on the merits of 24 January 2012 (concerning the situation of the travellers and migrant Roma of Romanian and Bulgarian origin): violation of Article E taken together with Article 16, 19§8, 30 and 31 (the violation of Article 30 concerned the situation of travellers; the violation of Article 31§3 concerned people choosing to live in caravans; the other violations concerned Roma of Romanian and Bulgarian origin). 27. The Committee notes that this complaint mostly concerns migrant Roma of Romanian and Bulgarian origin, i.e. who come from states parties to the Charter and, more specifically, that the term "Roma" is used with reference to those of them settled in the Balkans and central Europe, some of whom have more or less recently emigrated into western European countries. The term "migrant Roma in France” is therefore taken to mean persons living in France who are mainly from the countries of central and Eastern Europe and who consider themselves as Roma. 28. According to several sources (in particular to the opinion of the French national consultative commission, Commission Nationale Consultative des Droits de l’Homme, Avis sur le respect des droits des “gens du voyage” et des Roms migrants au regard des réponses récentes de la France aux instances internationales, adopted in the plenary session on 22 March 2012, §7), there are about 15.000 to 20.000 migrant Roma in France (this figure has been stable for several years). More than 90% of them come from Romania, several groups from Bulgaria and a few families from countries of the former Yugoslavia. Most of these Roma live with their families, including children. According to Romeurope, one-third to a half of the Roma living in squats and shanty