Human rights organizations are demanding the competent republic and city authorities to urgently undertake measures to provide a minimum standard of decent housing conditions for Roma evicted from the informal settlement Belvil to Nis.

To recall, on 26 April 2012, the City Administration of the City of Belgrade evicted about a thousand of Roma from the informal settlement Belvil. Internally displaced families from Kosovo and those with permanent residence registered in Belgrade have been accommodated in container settlements on the outskirts of Belgrade. On the other hand, families with permanent residence registered in cities throughout Serbia have been returned there. Four Roma families with seven children have been accommodated in the abandoned warehouse in Nis with no access to water and electric power, where hygienic and living conditions are below the minimum standards required to ensure dignified life. Over the past period, human rights organizations from Nis have been trying to affect the solution of the problems faced by Roma accommodated in the warehouse by providing direct assistance and meeting representatives of government authorities. However, even after more than seventy five days, city authorities of Nis and republic bodies failed to undertake measures to ensure elementary living conditions – access to potable water, electric power and sanitation. Extremely bad living conditions in the abandoned warehouse are additionally worsened by high temperatures and adverse weather conditions.

Gross negligence of the needs of the most vulnerable citizens of the Republic of Serbia once again points to deeply rooted neglect and marginalization of Roma. Moreover, authorities are strongly contributing to this negligence and inobservance of human rights standards on the right to adequate housing. Obligations related to respect for human rights stated in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights are clear – residents evicted from the informal settlement must be provided with an adequate alternative accommodation which, among others, includes the sustainable access to safe potable water, electric power for cooking, heating, lighting and sanitation.

Due to the above stated, we are once again calling on authorities to take urgent measures in order to ensure elementary standard of decent housing conditions for Roma accommodated in the abandoned warehouse in Nis i.e. the resettlement from the abandoned warehouse to adequate and decent alternative accommodation with sustainable access to potable water, electric power and sanitation.

Organizations that signed the statement:

1.    Platform for the right to adequate housing
2.    European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC)

Platform for the right to adequate housing consists of: Praxis, Minority Rights Centre, Regional Centre for Minorities, CHRIS – Network of the Committees for Human Rights in Serbia, Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights – YUCOM and Novi Sad Humanitarian Centre.

Download: Analysis of the Situation of Internally Displaced Persons from Kosovo in Serbia: Law and Practice

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NGOs from Serbia – Regional Centre for Minorities, CEKOR - Centre for Ecology and Sustainable Development, CHRIS – Network of the Committees for Human Rights in Serbia, and Praxis submitted an alternative report entitled Information Submitted to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) on the Occasion of Initial Periodic Report of Serbia.

As a State Party to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Republic of Serbia is obliged to regularly submit reports to the Committee, presenting all measures taken regarding the implementation of the Convention. Serbia submitted the Initial Periodic Report to the Committee in August 2009, 19 months late. It is also practice that non-governmental organizations submit alternative or shadow reports as additional information to the Committee in their estimate of State reports.

The organizations submitting the report have opted for the so-called “violations approach” which identifies burning issues in exercise of basic human rights, such as, for example, problems related to right to housing, right to nationality, right to freedom of movement and residence within the border of the State, right to own property and other basic human rights. Due to the selected approach, the report does not deal with the positive sides of the State policy in certain topics, but exclusively with serious violations of human rights of which no information was given in the Initial Periodic Report of the Republic of Serbia.
 
The data presented in this report are a result of years of field work, information and cooperation with grass-root organizations, analysis of our previous experience in the topics relevant for the report and following on and analysing the work of the State bodies.

The Committee will consider the report during the 78th Session, on Thursday 24th February and Friday 25th February 2011. The report will be considered together with those of the State and international organizations Amnesty International and European Roma Rights Centre.

Download: Information Submitted to CERD on the Occasion of Initial Periodic Report of Serbia

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Download: HERE