[WCAR] Greece: House demolitions of Roma continue

***Learn more about this topic in HREA's study guide on the human right to
housing: http://www.hrea.org/learn/guides/housing.html


Government Fails to Act to Stop Forced Evictions

Press Release
9 November 2004

The homes of eight Roma families in Greece were demolished in late October
2004 in violation of international and national law, according to the
report of an emergency mission conducted last week in the city of Patras.

Greek Helsinki Monitor (GHM) found that the municipality of Patras and
local police, without any official warning, arrived at the settlements of
Makrigianni and Glafkos on 30 October 2004 and proceeded to force the Roma
to dismantle the structures in which they lived and if the residents
refused, the officials demolished the homes. Only one home was saved after
a young Romani man stood in front of the excavating machine, a backhoe
loader.

'The tragedy of this eviction' according to Panayote Dimitras,
spokesperson for GHM, 'is that these families, along with 27 other
families, had their homes, which contained many of their personal
possessions, razed to the ground two months earlier by the same
municipality. They were just starting to rebuild their lives. The families
are now left homeless'.

The failure of the Greek government to curtail anti-Romani abuses by local
authorities, particularly in the area of housing, was the subject of a
recent collective legal action before the Strasbourg-based European
Committee of Social Rights. A decision in the matter is pending.

Claude Cahn, who handles the complaint on behalf of the European Rights
Roma Center, said 'This most recent abuse only confirms what the Greek
government essentially admitted to the Committee: that it will allow local
authorities to forcibly evict Roma without providing alternate
accommodation. It remains unclear whether the Greek government even
understands its international law obligations. We do not yet see any end
to the systemic human rights abuse of Roma in Greece.'

The Roma evicted on 30 October 2004 were migrants from Albania. But
despite having legal residence permits, they were denied any due process.
In a statement dated 4 November 2004, the municipality of Patras denied
that the evictions carried out on 30 October 2004 targeted Albanian Roma.
However, thirteen neighbouring Greek Roma families also victims of the
earlier evictions were threatened with forcible eviction but their houses
were spared. The Geneva-based UN Committee on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights has previously made clear that Greece should not
discriminate between Roma on the basis of their nationality.

The Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE), an international
non-governmental organisation that globally monitors forced evictions,
expressed alarm at the continuing pace of demolitions. 'Greece has clear
obligations under international treaties to ensure that evictions only
occur in exceptional circumstances, with due process and with the
provision of alternative accommodation. In this case, not even Greeces
rather weak laws on eviction were followed,' said Malcolm Langford, Senior
Legal Officer for COHRE.

Following criticism of the municipality's actions by local media, the
Albanian Roma have not been harassed since and have proceeded to set up
impromptu sheds in the areas where the evictions took place, in order to
cope with worsening weather conditions.

The Government should move urgently to provide secure and appropriate
accommodation for all the evicted families, pay compensation for destroyed
property and prosecute the local officials and police who carried out the
demolitions. GHM and ERRC are currently considering legal action in the
case.


Contacts:

Panayote Dimitras, Greek Helsinki Monitor, Mobile: +30 69 44 43 19 41
Claude Cahn, European Roma Rights Center, Mobile: +36 20 98 36 445
Malcolm Langford, Centre on Housing Rights & Evictions, +49 163 820 1133
Nathalie Mivelaz, Centre on Housing Rights & Evictions, +41 765 113 291



========= World Conference Against Racism (WCAR) listserv =========
Send mail intended for the list to <wcar@hrea.org>. Archives of the list
can be found at: http://www.hrea.org/lists/wcar/markup/maillist.php
To subscribe to the list, send a message to <majordomo@hrea.org>, with the
following text in the message: subscribe wcar
To unsubscribe from the list, send a message to <majordomo@hrea.org>, with
the following text in the message: unsubscribe wcar
If you have problems (un)subscribing, contact <owner-wcar@hrea.org>.