President Francois Hollande on Tuesday defended France's policy of forcibly evicting Roma migrants from temporary camps, after a report said a record number were kicked out of the often squalid settlements last year.
French president Francois Hollande speaks during a press conference to present his 2014 policy plans on January 14, 2014 at the Elysee presidential palace in Paris
"Do we have to be ashamed of what we have done? No," Hollande said at a press conference, in response to a question about France's policy towards the Roma, adding the law had always been respected.
His comments come after two rights groups said in a joint report that a record 19,380 Roma migrants had been evicted from their camps in 2013, more than double than the previous year.
"In comparison 9,404 Roma were forcibly evicted by authorities in 2012 and 8,455 in 2011," the Human Rights League (LDH) and the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) said.
"Forced evictions continued almost everywhere without credible alternative housing solutions or social support," they said.
The report said that government policy requiring social assessments before evictions "is rarely implemented".
There are an estimated 20,000 Roma living in temporary, often illegal, camps on the edges of French towns.
The government has in recent years pursued a controversial policy of evicting some of them from the camps, often paying them to return to their countries of origin, mainly Romania and Bulgaria.
The policy has come under attack from rights groups, as has the current climate of hostility towards the ethnic group, highlighted when Interior Minister Manuel Valls said few of the Roma had any interest in settling in France and should return to their countries of origin.
"This policy of rejection is ineffective, costly and unnecessary since nothing has changed after these evictions," said Pierre Tartakowsky, the president of LDH.
"Roma still live in France, in settlements they have rebuilt a little farther away, but their situation is increasingly insecure. The ongoing, increased evictions pave the way for the expression of extremism and anti-Roma racism."
ERRC chief Dezideriu Gergely called for an immediate end to forced evictions and for a "real integration policy for those people at risk of poverty or social exclusion."
The data showed that evictions peaked mid-year, but continued at a high rate in the last three months of the year despite cold weather.
The report said 56 percent of the evictions took place in the Paris region.