MINELREL-L Archive (08102000-14:17:15-4158)

ERRC letter to Serbian Prime Minister


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From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2000 14:17:14 +0200 (EET)
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Subject: ERRC letter to Serbian Prime Minister


From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>

Original sender: European Roma Rights Center <[email protected]>

ERRC letter to Serbian Prime Minister


On July 27, 2000, the ERRC sent a letter to Serbian Prime Minister
Mirko Marjanovic to express concern about abusive evictions of Roma by
Serbian authorities which took place on June 8, 2000 in Belgrade.
During the raid, the authorities levelled the homes and destroyed the
property of more than 120 Roma, including displaced Roma from Kosovo,
living in the Antena settlement in the Surcin area of the municipality
of Novi Beograd. The authorities allegedly also verbally and
physically abused several Roma, including women and children. In the
letter, the ERRC called upon Prime Minister Mr Marjanovic to condemn
the use of force by police officers, to take immediate measures to
investigate the allegations of police abuse, and to sanction any
officers who abused their powers. The ERRC also asked the Prime
Minister to ensure that compensation for destroyed property, and
adequate new shelter is provided to the Roma in question. The text of
the letter follows:


Honourable Prime Minister Marjanovic,

The European Roma Rights Center (ERRC), an international public
interest law organisation which monitors the rights of Roma and
provides legal defence in cases of human rights abuse, is concerned
about recent forced evictions of Roma and demolitions by authorities
of Romani homes in Serbia.

According to ERRC information, on June 8, 2000, a group of police
officers conducted a raid on Roma in the Antena settlement in the
Surcin area of Novi Beograd, during which they insulted and beat
Romani individuals and destroyed Romani houses. Around 107 people, 72
of which were children, lived in the Antena settlement. Around half of
the inhabitants were Romani refugees from Kosovo, who had arrived in
Belgrade in summer 1999. On June 6, 2000, the Antena Roma received a
written notice from the mayor of Novi Beograd instructing them to
destroy the settlement, which had been built without permission.
According to the mayor, if they failed to do so, the settlement would
be demolished. On the following day, June 7, municipal authorities
came to the settlement accompanied by police and reportedly destroyed
one house. On the morning of June 8, at around 10:00 AM, ten uniformed
police officers arrived and told the Roma that they were not allowed
to live on state-owned land. These were reportedly followed by another
group of six officers in civilian clothes.

Mr I.M., one of the Roma living in Antena, told the Humanitarian Law
Centre (HLC) that the police officers handcuffed him, punched him on
the back and face, and kicked him, while insulting his ethnicity. They
pushed Mr I.M. into their van, and kept him there for an hour while
his house was destroyed, together with his property inside. Then the
police took him to the police station in the Bezanijska Kosa district,
where they kept him until 1:00 PM. According to his testimony, while
in detention, officers verbally and physically abused him. Another
inhabitant of the settlement, Mr B.O., reported to the HLC that while
the houses were being destroyed, a police officer wearing white
civilian clothes slapped him twice, and then punched him in the area
of kidneys, after which Mr B.O. fled. The same police officer
allegedly kicked Mr F.O. and said that "Gypsies should run away, and
should not complain, as they have lived here long enough." The police
officers reportedly slapped and kicked several other Roma, including
women and children. While the reported instances of physical abuse
were taking place, according to eyewitnesses, the municipal
authorities destroyed all of the Roma houses and property with
bulldozers.

As of July 27, seven weeks after their settlement was demolished, the
inhabitants of the Antena settlement were still camping on the ruins
of their homes, with only plastic sheets to serve as shelter.
According to Serbian press, one of the Romani women gave birth to a
baby boy in a hospital in Belgrade recently and returned with it to
the shelter to stay under the plastic sheets; however, both she and
her baby had to seek medical assistance and return to the hospital on
the same day. The same source reports that two more women from the
settlement became ill and sought medical assistance.

Honourable Prime Minister Marjanovic, the verbal and physical
mistreatment of Roma reported in the interviews is in violation of a
number of articles of Conventions to which Yugoslavia is party,
including Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights (ICCPR) which prohibits torture or cruel, inhuman
and/or degrading treatment or punishment; Article 9 of the ICCPR which
states that no one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest or
detention; Article 26 which states that the law shall prohibit
discrimination and guarantee equal and effective protection against
discrimination on any grounds including race; and Article 5(b) of the
International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial
Discrimination (CERD) which guarantees the right to security of person
and protection by the State against violence or bodily harm. In
addition, under the European Convention on Human Rights, the alleged
police abuses violate Article 3, which prohibits inhuman and/or
degrading treatment, Article 8, which protects the right to home and
family life, and Article 14, which bans discrimination on grounds of
race.

Additionally, despite the fact that Roma refugees from Kosovo have
been living in Serbia for over a year, the state has failed to provide
adequate housing for them. This ongoing failure of Yugoslav
authorities to provide Roma with adequate shelter violates Article 11,
paragraph 1 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights which states that everyone has the right to an
adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including
housing and the right to continuous improvement of living conditions;
Article 5(e)(iii) of CERD which prohibits racial discrimination in the
enjoyment of the right to housing; Articles 14(2)(g) of the Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women which
provides for the rights of rural women to adequate housing; and
Articles 27(1), (2) and (3) of the Convention on the Rights of the
Child which establishes the positive obligation of States parties to
provide material assistance, including housing to children in need.

Honourable Prime Minister Marjanovic, the ERRC hereby urges you to
investigate allegations of ill-treatment of Roma and to discipline
those guilty of abuse. Property destroyed should be compensated.
Adequate new shelters should be provided, allowing Roma to live in
safety and dignity, and steps should be taken to prevent similar acts
by local authorities in the future, as well as to provide for the fair
and humane treatment of Roma in Serbia. We kindly request to be
informed on your actions.

Sincerely,

Dimitrina Petrova
Executive Director

Persons wishing to express similar concerns are invited to contact:

Prime Minister Mr Mirko Marjanovic
Fax: +381 11 361 7587

Minister of Internal Affairs Mr Vlajko Stoiljkovic
Fax: +381 11 683 041

Head of Belgrade Local Government Mr Spasoje Krunic
Fax: +381 11 620 563


*****************

The European Roma Rights Center is an international public interest
law organisation which monitors the rights of Roma and provides legal
defence in cases of human rights abuse. For more information about the
European Roma Rights Center, visit the ERRC on the web at
http://errc.org

European Roma Rights Center
1386 Budapest 62
P.O. Box 906/93
Hungary


Telephone: (36 1) 42 82 351
Fax: (36 1) 42 82 356

*****************

SUPPORT THE ERRC!

The European Roma Rights Center is dependent upon the generosity of
individual donors for its continued existence. If you believe the ERRC
performs a service valuable to the public, please join in enabling its
future with a contribution. Gifts of all sizes are welcome; bank
transfers are preferred. Please send your contribution to:

European Roma Rights Center
Budapest Bank Rt.
99P00402686
1054 Budapest
Bathory utca 1
Hungary


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