SERBIA: Human rights group criticise Roma evictions, authorities say it's step towards integration

Record ID: 1530442

  • Title: SERBIA: Human rights group criticise Roma evictions, authorities say it's step towards integration
  • Date: 7th April 2011
  • Summary: BELGRADE, SERBIA (RECENT) (REUTERS) VIEW OF ROMA INFORMAL SETTLEMENT
  • Embargoed: 22nd April 2011 03:28
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Serbia, Serbia
  • Country: Serbia
  • Topics: International Relations,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA8KIKO3NEQ18J17TXFFW83IVUY
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  • Story Text: The Bellville Roma settlement in Belgrade is one of about 50 such places which will be demolished in the near future according to the city authorities' plans envisaging large scale infrastructure projects.
    The settlement, which is home to about 50 families, does not have electricity, heat or running water, but many residents still do not want to move. But they have no choice. Since April 2009 at least seven forced evictions of informal Roma settlements have taken place in Belgrade. Roma with Belgrade registration were moved to specially built container villages on the outskirts of the capital, others had to return to the places they came from, mostly in the south of the country.
    Human rights group Amnesty International has called on Serbian authorities to "take urgent and immediate action" to stop the forced evictions of Roma in Belgrade and to prevent "systematic discrimination" against them.
    There are about 100 informal Roma settlements in the Serbian capital and more than half of them should be demolished, according to Belgrade authorities' who say they are planning large scale infrastructure projects.
    In the Rights Group report published on Thursday (April 8), on the eve of the International Roma Day Amnesty says forced evictions of Roma are on the rise in the Serbian capital Belgrade and that such practices violate international Human Rights standards.
    Belgrade, however, argues that the existing slums are unhygienic and are too big a burden in the city's resources.
    "The number of unhygienic slums is big, city resources are small, but there is serious readiness to proceed forward, despite problems we have had. We are fully aware of them but I still think we are making a step forward when you compare what the situation was like before," Belgrade's Deputy Mayor Milan Krkobabic said.
    Some 30,000 people are reported to move to Belgrade annually and the city's mayor says it is not just a question of Roma, but that the city needs to adapt its infrastructures.
    "I think we deserve encouragement so we can make another step and then the next one," Krkobabic said about the relocation of Roma into new container settlements.
    Belgrade government estimates put the number of Roma living in Serbia at between 250,000 and 500,000. One of the new settlements for some of this number is near the river Sava where 40 containers have been erected to house a Roma community that used to live near Belgrade's main bridges.
    The containers have electricity and there is a twice-weekly visit from a doctor. The children are given the opportunity to go to school and a few have been offered jobs by the national Roma Council.
    Krkobabic sas this is one of the steps towards better living conditions.
    "The key issue is to solve the problem of unhygienic slums in Belgrade and to give them the basic elements, satisfy their basic needs and once this is achieved we can say that this group of people is integrated into society. And these elements are to create a roof over their heads, employment, healthcare and education," he told Reuters TV.
    The Roma families who have been relocated here acknowledge certain improvements, but, says one resident, Seburan Ramadani, there is just not enough space.
    "Now conditions are better, we have water, a bathroom, but not enough space, the container is very small, I live there with my mother in one room six by two metres. That's the biggest problem," Ramadani said.
    As for the long-term future of Roma dwellings, things remain uncertain.
    "They told us we will be here temporarily, for five years. But we don't know exactly what will happen, no one knows whether it will be five years or more, I don't know," Ramadani said.
    According to Amnesty's report Roma remain one of the most marginalised communities in Europe, who are not only very often tarnished with a bad brush but face active discrimination.
    Serbia has recently seen a rise in ethnically motivated attacks on the Roma population and has yet to make progress in bringing perpetrators quickly to account, says Roma National Council spokesman, Ivan Vasic.
    "Our Roma population has no other state then Serbia, Roma were born here, Roma did their military service here, but let's be honest, silent discrimination towards Roma exists, that's why we have incidents. But I expect the state to do something to stop incidents like those which happened recently," he said.
    Amnesty has called for an immediate end to all forced evictions and for the establishment of a legal framework to address the Roma dwelling situation.
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