MINELRES: ERRC: Roma Rights Concerns in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

[European Roma Rights Center]

September 23, 2002
European Roma Rights Center Press Release

Roma Rights Concerns in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in the
Context of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe September
24, 2002 Point of Agenda "Federal Republic of Yugoslavia's Application
for Membership to the Council of Europe"

On September 20, 2002, the European Roma Rights Center (ERRC) sent a
letter to Mr Peter Schieder, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of
the Council of Europe, Mr Claude Frey, Rapporteur of the Political
Affairs Committee, Mr Helmut Lippelt, Rapporteur of the Committee on
Legal Affairs and Human Rights, and Mr Alvaro Gil-Robles, Commissioner
for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, calling attention to Roma
rights concerns in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. On Tuesday,
September 24, 2002, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
will discuss the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia's Application for
Membership to the Council of Europe. ERRC concerns, as detailed in its
September 23 letter, include:

- Physical abuse of Roma by police officers and other members of the
public authority
- Violence against Roma by skinheads and other non-state actors
- Discrimination and racial segregation in the field of education
- Forced eviction and the threat of forced eviction
- Systemic violations of the right to habitable shelter
- Racial discrimination in access to health care services
- Racial discrimination against Roma in access to employment
- Racial discrimination against Roma in the allocation of state social
assistance
- Racial discrimination against Roma in access to public accommodation
such as discotheques, cafes, and swimming pools

The text of the ERRC letter follows in full:

Honourable Mr President, Honourable Rapporteurs, Honourable Mr
Commissioner,

In relation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe's
September 24, 2002 point of agenda "Federal Republic of Yugoslavia's
application for membership to the Council of Europe", the European Roma
Rights Center (ERRC) respectfully submits, in summary, its concerns with
respect to the human rights situation of Roma in the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia. (footnote 1)

The European Roma Rights Center (ERRC) is an international public
interest law organisation which monitors the situation of Roma in Europe
and provides legal defence in cases of human rights abuse. Since its
establishment in 1996, the ERRC has undertaken first-hand field research
in more than a dozen countries, including the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia, and has disseminated numerous publications, from book-length
studies to advocacy letters and public statements. ERRC publications
about the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and other countries, as well as
additional information about the organisation, are available on the
Internet at http://www.errc.org.

Background

- In addition to a native Romani population of an estimated more than
300,000 (footnote 2), Serbia and Montenegro host tens of thousands of
displaced Roma from Kosovo (footnote 3). Further, in recent months, a
number of Western European governments have -- in the contexts of (i) an
extremely migrant-hostile public mood in Western Europe and (ii) an
administrative lack of clarity surrounding the status of Kosovo -- begun
putting pressure on Roma from Kosovo to "return" to the Federal Republic
of Yugoslavia. Under such pressure, many Roma from Kosovo who had
previously fled to Western European countries have recently "returned"
to localities in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia where they have
never lived before, and where there is frequently no political will or
adequate material means for their integration. Many such persons have
entered cycles of repeated forced eviction from places where they have
attempted to settle.

Concerns (footnote 4)

- Numerous instances of physical abuse of Roma by police officers and
other members of the public authority have been reported in the Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia. Physical abuse of Roma in police detention is
reported with alarming frequency. During incidents of ill-treatment,
many police officers have reportedly insulted the ethnic origins of
Roma. The ERRC and partner organisations have also documented cases of
police violence against chronically ill Romani persons, as well as
against Romani children and minors, sometimes resulting in severe bodily
injuries such as broken arms. Police officers also often use excessive
force while arbitrarily evicting Roma from settlements and/or during
abusive police raids targeting Romani communities, frequently without
showing proper authorising warrants. In some instances in which Romani
individuals have sought legal remedy against such abuse by filing
criminal complaints against police officers, the officers in question
later used threats of force to pressure such persons into withdrawing
complaints. The criminal justice system in the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia has in most cases failed to provide adequate judicial remedy
to Romani victims when instances of abuse by public officials have taken
place.

- Roma in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia have on numerous occasions
fallen victim to violence by skinheads and other non-state actors. Such
attacks have resulted in severe bodily harm requiring that the victim
undergo extensive periods of hospitalisation and sometimes surgery. At
least one such attack resulted in the death of the victim. In cases of
civilian violence against Roma, police in the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia have for the most part reacted inadequately to protect
members of the Romani community despite the fact that, for example, it
was widely known that racist skinheads in Belgrade were regularly
targeting Romani street cleaners during late-night hours. In a vast
majority of cases, when racist attacks on Roma have taken place, the
relevant authorities have not undertaken adequate investigation and in
some cases, no investigation has taken place at all. Legal action has
rarely been taken against perpetrators in such cases, and where legal
proceedings have been undertaken, racial animus is frequently not given
due legal recognition. On a number of occasions, Romani victims of
racial violence who sought medical assistance after experiencing
civilian violence have, according to reports, subsequently been insulted
on racial grounds by staff of medical institutions.

- In the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Roma suffer discrimination and
racial segregation in the field of education. Romani children face a
wide range of obstacles in their access to education. In some cases,
schools have refused to enrol Romani children on grounds that they lack
proper competence in the Serbian language, and have instead placed them
in schools for mentally disabled children. Romani children are
reportedly particularly over-represented in classes for mildly mentally
disabled children in Serbia. Additionally, Romani children have in a
number of cases suffered harassment by non-Romani peers, including
violence and racial slurs. Teachers and other schooling authorities
reportedly do not react adequately to sanction racist abuse. In
addition, a number of Romani children of families who have fled ethnic
cleansing and other violence in Kosovo are reportedly not in school at
all. These are often precluded from enrolling in schools due to blocked
access to proper personal documents required by schooling authorities.

- Roma in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia frequently experience
forced eviction and the threat of forced eviction. In recent years,
there has been a sharp rise in the numbers of forced evictions of Roma
from settlements and the subsequent demolition of settlements, as well
as the destruction of property belonging to Romani individuals. Some
Romani families have been victims of several forced evictions in
succession. It is widely rumoured that such evictions will increase in
the near future, particularly in Belgrade, and particularly among the
numerous informal settlements established by displaced Roma from Kosovo.

- More broadly, Roma in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia experience
systemic violations of the right to habitable shelter. The housing
conditions of the overwhelming majority of Roma in the Federal Republic
of Yugoslavia are highly substandard. Many Romani dwellings lack legal
authorisation and have neither running water nor electricity. State-run
municipal garbage removal services reportedly rarely collect waste from
Romani settlements. In some cases, where foreign humanitarian
organisations have offered financial assistance for providing
infrastructure in Romani settlements, local authorities have refused to
co-operate with the explanation that the settlements at issue have been
built illegally. In Montenegro, collective camps for housing displaced
Kosovo Roma are overcrowded and unsafe, and there have been a number of
fire incidents with fatal consequences. One such camp in Podgorica is
located near a local garbage dump, giving rise to a constant threat of
disease for inhabitants. Many displaced Roma from Kosovo live in
unofficial camps, to which no agency -- state or non-governmental -- is
providing material assistance. Others are sheltered by relatives already
resident in Serbia and Montenegro, and there are therefore widespread
reports of so-called "hidden homelessness". To date, there has been no
genuine government effort to resolve the housing problems of Roma in
Serbia and Montenegro.

- Poor housing conditions and a lack of clean water have caused diseases
in some Romani settlements in Serbia. There are also widespread reports
that Roma suffer discrimination in access to health care services. There
are, for example, numerous allegations that emergency aid teams refuse
to come to Romani settlements. Additionally, many Roma cannot exercise
their right to state-provided health care because they lack personal
documents demanded by medical authorities. This problem is particularly
widespread among displaced Roma from Kosovo.

- Unemployment among Roma in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is at
present extremely high, and there are widespread allegations of
discrimination against Roma in access to employment. There are no known
instances in which authorities have sanctioned an employer in the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia for pursuing a policy of racial
discrimination or for failing to hire a Romani individual on arbitrary
grounds.

- There have been allegations of discrimination against Roma in the
allocation of state social assistance. In addition, humanitarian
assistance provisions for displaced Roma from Kosovo are inadequate.
There have also been claims of the discrimination of Kosovo Roma in the
allocation of humanitarian assistance on the grounds of their ethnicity
and religion -- most Kosovo Roma are Muslims in predominantly Christian
Orthodox Serbia and Montenegro.

- Instances of discrimination against Roma in access to public
accommodation such as discotheques, cafes, and swimming pools have been
documented on a number of occasions in the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia. Authorities have failed to take adequate action to punish
such acts of discrimination.

It is the position of the European Roma Rights Center that Roma rights
issues as summarised above are of central relevance for assessment of
the admission of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to the Council of
Europe. The government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia -- as well
as authorities at all levels -- must make rights-based policy addressing
the complex of issues facing the Roma in Serbia and Montenegro a highest
priority in their near-, middle- and long-term policy and funding
efforts.

Sincerely,

Dimitrina Petrova
Executive Director

Notes:
1. Although Kosovo administratively remains a part of the Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia, it is presently under international
administration, and this document will therefore not address the
situation of Roma in Kosovo. The focus of this document is human rights
issues pertaining to Roma in Serbia and Montenegro, and the term "Serbia
and Montenegro" is used synonymously with the term "Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia" in this document, to mean those areas of the Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia not including Kosovo.
Roma have suffered extreme human rights abuses in Kosovo, in particular
following June 1999, when Roma were ethnically cleansed from the
province by ethnic Albanians (for details on human rights issues
pertaining to Roma from Kosovo, please see:
http://errc.org/publications/indices/kosovo.shtml). Tens of thousands of
displaced Roma from Kosovo presently live in the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia, and issues related to these persons are addressed below.

2. Census figures indicate a Romani population of 143,519. However, this
figure includes Kosovo. It is widely contended that the official figure
dramatically under-represents the true number of Roma in Serbia and
Montenegro, and NGO estimates have placed the reasonable number of Roma
in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia as around 400,000-450,000, again
including Kosovo. Prior to the June 1999 ethnic cleansing of Roma from
Kosovo by ethnic Albanians, the Romani population of Kosovo is estimated
to have been 100,000-120,000.

3. UNHCR has stated that in 2000 there were 19,551 displaced Roma in
Serbia and in 2002 there were 6492 displaced Roma in Montenegro. These
figures are widely held to underestimate the true number of displaced
Roma in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Estimates by
non-governmental organisations and other agencies have put the true
figure as high as 80,000.

4. Further information on the issues raised herein are available on:
http://errc.org/publications/indices/yugoslavia.shtml.

Persons wishing to express similar concerns are urged to contact:

Mr Peter Schieder, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the
Council of Europe
Council of Europe
67075 Strasbourg CEDEX
France
Fax: (++33 3) 88 41 2776

Mr Claude Frey, Rapporteur of the Political Affairs Committee
Council of Europe
67075 Strasbourg CEDEX
France
Fax: (++33 3) 88 41 2776

Mr Helmut Lippelt, Rapporteur of the Committee on Legal Affairs and
Human Rights
Council of Europe
67075 Strasbourg CEDEX
France
Fax: (++33 3) 88 41 2776

Mr Alvaro Gil-Robles, Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of
Europe
Council of Europe
67075 Strasbourg CEDEX
France
Fax: (++33 3) 90 21 50 53


_____________________________________________

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://www.errc.org.

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


Phone: +36 1 4132200
Fax:   +36 1 4132201

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