Votanikos: Eviction
Published by deviousdiva July 21st, 2006 in Roma.Part Two: Eviction
Another extremely distressing issue for this community in Votanikos is the continuing threat of eviction. In April 2005 the City of Athens announced plans to build a new football stadium in the area. It is to be the main attraction for the bid to host the 2012 European Football Championship. Bear in mind that Athens hosted the 2004 Olympic Games and currently has several almost brand new stadiums unused and rotting away.
Many people have commented on previous articles I have done on Votanikos, saying that the problem arises from their illegal status. Let me clear this up once and for all. The families have legal resident permits. They are living on this rubbish dump because they have nowhere else to live. No-one will rent houses to them. The racism against the entire Roma community is extreme and relentless but the people in Votanikos have the additional layer of prejudice because they are Albanian not Greek. (I will cover this issue in another post). As legal residents in Greece, they have rights and the State has obligations and responsibilities towards them.
Everyone I spoke to at the settlement talked about being under threat of eviction. I asked when they would be forced to leave. The visible stress on their faces was extreme as they said "Today? Tomorrow? Next year? We don't know" No-one knows where they will go. They supposed that they would be on the streets. Outside this camp and the few dedicated people who are trying to help them, I doubt that many people care.
The man in the foreground asked me where I was from. I told him from England. His face lit up as he talked about wanting to go there because there would be work, there would be somewhere to live, there would be food for his family. Who the hell am I to shatter his dream? It might possibly be all he has.
They do not want to be living on this poisonous patch of land in this way, and no-one in their right mind would want them to either, but they have no alternative at the moment.
The Greek government illegally evicts Roma communities with alarming regularity and covers its actions by calling them "cleaning operations" . This allows them to act without adherence to the law. They are just "cleaning up" During these operations, they bulldoze houses without giving adequate time for the occupants to remove their processions, often burying the debris under the ground or burning it. What little the people had in the first place is destroyed. All of the Roma at Votanikos have been evicted before, many repeatedly.
There has been another devastating blow to this community (as if they needed any more) The Greek Helsinki Monitor has had its funding cut for Roma rights. No prizes for guessing why. It means that the legal help the GHM were providing, to secure their rights, can no longer be supported.
So the bulldozers will move in one day and demolish their homes and the residents will be left to find some other scrap of land to try and re-build their lives… again.
How does anyone live with this continual harassment and humiliation? With the constant threat of losing everything… again? With the knowledge that you are already at the bottom and people would wish to push you even further down?
Tomorrow: Education
[Please read the full letter sent to the Mayors office on the 29th July 2005 regarding the Votanikos site. It includes the law on evictions and the legal rights of the Roma people currently living there]
UPDATE: To date no-one from the Mayor's office has responded to the letter below. Please see the comments from Panayote Dimitras of the Greek Helsinki Monitor below this post.
Letter to Mayor of Athens
Amnesty International (AI)
Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE)
Coordinated Organisations and Communities for Roma Human Rights in Greece (SOKADRE)
European Roma Information Centre (ERIO)
European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC)
Greek Helsinki Monitor (GHM)
International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF)
Minority Rights Group International (MRGI)
World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT)
Ms. Dora Bakoyannis
Mayor of Athens
63 Athinas St. - Kotzias Square
GR-10552 Athens, Greece
Tel: +30-2103722001
Fax: +30-2103722320
Re: Forced evictions of Roma communities in Athens
Dear Ms. Bakoyannis,
Amnesty International (AI), the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE), the Coordinated Organisations and Communities for Roma Human Rights in Greece (SOKADRE), European Roma Information Centre (ERIO), European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC), Greek Helsinki Monitor (GHM), International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF), Minority Rights Group International (MRGI) and World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) are gravely concerned by the announced eviction -without any relocation plans- of some 70 Albanian Roma families, with legal resident permits, currently living in squalid conditions in three communities in the area of Votanikos, where the City of Athens has announced the construction of a football stadium. The stadium will become the home of Athens' main team, Panathinaikos, and is one of the facilities included in Greece's official bid to get the 2012 European Football Championship.
After such plans for Votanikos first became public, GHM and SOKADRE briefed your office on the presence of these families in April 2005. They requested to be informed about any relocation plans and sought a meeting with the competent municipal authorities. The request was repeated several times, including when the Roma started reporting that (alleged) municipal employees were visiting them asking them to move out because of the imminent construction of a stadium. The most recent of such visits was reported to GHM, SOKADRE and an international consultant on 9 June 2005. The absence of any reply to the repeated requests has given the impression that the municipality does not wish to discuss the issue or help secure the rights of the Roma. Then, on 16 July 2005, a few days after your meeting with Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis confirming the project, the plans for the development of the Votanikos area with the accompanying sketches were published in the daily "Ta Nea." Therein, on page 20 (http://ta-nea.dolnet.gr/data/D2005/D0716/1el20a.gif), it was clearly stated that "Gypsies are to be removed," without any provision for relocation.
The precedent set by the discriminatory treatment of the Marousi (Greater Athens) Roma communities evicted to make way for some 2004 Olympic Games facilities makes our concerns about the fate of the Votanikos Roma urgent. In mid-2002, scores of Albanian Roma families living in the vicinity of the Olympic Stadium were ordered to leave without any relocation plans offered to them. The contract signed by the Mayor of Marousi with the association representing the 40 Greek Roma families also living in that area was in principle a good plan for provision of alternative housing. However, the initially inadequate and later on altogether non-implementation of this contract made it to be not worth the paper it was written on. As you know, the monthly subsidies to these families for the rent of the homes they had rented temporarily while waiting for their permanent relocation were paid with many months' delays and only after public outcry. Once the Olympic Games were over, such subsidies were never paid again, while no place for their permanent relocation was found, hence leaving these Roma effectively homeless. International protests to the Greek authorities have been ignored, two ex officio penal investigations launched by the courts are stalled, and formal complaints filed with the Greek Ombudsman, who has recently been vested also with powers under the anti-discrimination law (enacted in response to the EU's 2000/43 and 2000/78 directives), have effectively been ignored.
As a State Party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Government of Greece is legally obligated to respect the right to adequate housing, including the prohibition on forced evictions, as guaranteed under Article 11(1). Evictions can only occur in exceptional circumstances and must conform to a strict set of criteria set out by the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in General Comment No. 7. There must be special justification for an eviction, which may only take place after examination of alternatives to eviction with the affected community. There must be adequate notice and information and an opportunity to contest the grounds for eviction. No one may be left homeless as a result of an eviction and alternative accommodation must be provided as far as possible in a location near a person's place of work or education together with reasonable access to essential services. Any eviction must be carried out humanely. The planned forced evictions and actual threatened evictions of the Roma in Votanikos fall short of all these criteria.
The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in its review of Greece's report in 2004 stated that it was "gravely concerned about numerous reports on the extrajudicial demolition of dwellings and forced evictions of Roma from their settlements by municipal authorities … frequently without payment of adequate compensation or provision of alternative housing". The Committee recommended that Greece "take measures towards providing for all the Roma, including itinerant and non-Greek Roma, adequate and affordable housing with legal security of tenure, access to safe drinking water, adequate sanitation, electricity and other essential services, and meeting their specific cultural needs. The Committee recommends that the State party ensure the participation of Roma representatives in the assessment of the Integrated Action Plan for the Social Integration of Greek Roma and that it include information on the practical effects of the implementation of the Plan, as well as its applicability to non-Greek Roma legally residing within the State party's territory, in its second periodic report."
The European Committee of Social Rights has also found, in a landmark decision on a collective complaint (ERRC v. Greece) published a mere few weeks ago, that the Greek policies with respect to housing and accommodation of Roma infringe Article 16 of the European Social Charter due to:
- * The insufficient number of dwellings of an acceptable quality to meet the needs of settled Roma;
* The insufficient number of stopping places for Roma who choose to follow an itinerant lifestyle or who are forced to do so;
* The systematic eviction of Roma from sites or dwellings unlawfully occupied by them.
Additionally, the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) stated in its December 2003 report that "ECRI is concerned over allegations that forcible collective evictions of Roma families have taken place without any resettlement alternative being proposed. ECRI finds especially alarming reports to the effect that some of these evictions are unlawful and/or are followed by immediate destruction of the camps by bulldozer, despite the fact that all the personal possessions of the families remain there… ECRI strongly recommends that the Greek authorities maintain and increase their efforts to end all the direct or indirect discrimination suffered by the Roma… ECRI urges the Greek authorities to raise the awareness of local authorities, such as municipalities or local administrative agencies, to the need to respect the rights and the culture of the Roma. It strongly recommends to the Greek authorities to impose sanctions on municipal councilors who make racist remarks or do not comply with the regulations and decisions that bind them."
The fact that housing rights of the Roma in Greece continue to be systematically violated despite these rulings by these prestigious human rights monitoring bodies raises serious doubts about Greece's compliance with its international and regional human rights obligations.
In this respect, the undersigning organisations would like to bring your attention to the fact that in its November 2004 concluding observations on Greece, the UN Committee against Torture highlighted concerns regarding the occurrence of ill-treatment of the Roma by public officials in situations of forced evictions or relocation. The Committee urged the Greek authorities to ensure that all actions of public officials, in particular where the actions affect the Roma (such as evictions and relocations), are conducted in a non-discriminatory fashion and that all officials are reminded that any racist or discriminatory attitudes will not be permitted or tolerated.
We therefore urge you to promptly take all necessary measures to respect, protect and fulfil the rights of the Roma of Votanikos Athens to adequate housing, including:
- 1. Meet with the Roma concerned and the NGOs that work to secure their fundamental rights, and present them with concrete plans for relocation; seek their consent and reach agreement with them about their implementation.
2. Inform all municipal and other state officials and police officers of steps taken, as well as future measures, to guarantee the fundamental rights of these individuals to adequate housing, i.e. via relocation to adequate non-segregated housing.
3. Immediately instruct all relevant officials to cease forthwith harassing the Roma concerned and to desist in demanding that they leave the area where they currently live, until such a time as provisions are made to relocate them; punish officials who repeat such actions.
We respectfully request to be apprised of any and all actions undertaken by your office in this regard.
Yours sincerely,
Nicola Duckworth
Director
Europe and Central Asia Programme
Amnesty International
Theodore Alexandridis
SOKADRE Coordinator
Claude Cahn,
Acting Executive Director, ERRC
Aaron Rhodes
Executive Director, IHF
Eric Sottas
Director, OMCT
Scott Leckie
Executive Director, COHRE
Ivan Ivanov
Director, ERIO
Panayote Dimitras
GHM Spokesperson
Mark Lattimer
Director, MRGI
CC:
Mr. Kostas Karamanlis, Prime Minister of Greece, Fax: +30-2103238129
Professor Prokopis Pavlopoulos, Minister of Interior, Public Administration and Decentralization, Fax: +30 2103641048
Mr. George Voulgarakis, Minister of Public Order, Athens, Greece, Fax: +30 2106917944
Mr. George Kaminis, Ombudsman for Human Rights, Fax: +30 2107292129
Mr. Tassos Kriekoukis, Ambassador, Permanent Mission of Greece, 1, Place Saint-Gervais, 1201 Geneva, Switzerland, E-mail: mission.greece@ties.itu.int, Fax : +41 227322150
Mr. Miloon Kothari, UN Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing, E-mail: PMartins@ohchr.org, Fax: +41 229179010
Mr. Alexandre Tikhonov, Secretary to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, E-mail: atikhonov@ohchr.org, Fax: +41 22 9179046
Ms. Nathalie Prouvez, Secretary to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, E-mail: nprouvez@ohchr.org, Fax: + 41 22 9179022
Mr. Regis Brillat, Executive Secretary of the European Social Charter, E-mail: Regis.BRILLAT@coe.int, Fax: +33 3 88412745
Ms. Fiona Kinsman, European Commission, Social Affairs and Equal OpportunitiesAnti-Discrimination and Relations with Civil Society Unit, E-mail: Fiona.Kinsman@cec.eu.int
Ms. Isil Gachet, Secretary to the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance, E-mail: combat.racism@coe.int, Fax: +33 3 88413987
Contact details of the nine organisations:
Amnesty International, Fax +44 207 9561157, E-mail: ellada@amnesty.org
Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE), Fax: +41 22 7338336, E-mail: cohre@cohre.org
Coordinated Organisations and Communities for Roma Human Rights in Greece (SOKADRE), Fax: +30 210 6018760, E-mail: theo@greekhelsinki.gr
European Roma Information Centre (ERIO), Fax: +32 2 7333875, E-mail: ivan.ivanov@erionet.org
European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC), Fax: +36 1 4132201, E-mail: errc@errc.org
Greek Helsinki Monitor (GHM), Fax: +30 210 6018760, E-mail: panayote@greekhelsinki.gr
International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF), fax: +43-1-408 88 22 50, E-mail: office@ihf-hr.org
Minority Rights Group International (MRGI), Fax: +44 20 74224201, E-mail: minority.rights@mrgmail.org
World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), Fax: +41 22 8094929, E-mail: omct@omct.org
A Victory for Roma Rights by deviousdiva on June 6th, 2008
Arson by deviousdiva on June 1st, 2007
Award by deviousdiva on December 5th, 2006
Actually the “cleaning operations” are meant to clean only Roma not the garbage. While we were with DD there, in Hania they were “cleaning” -illegally evicting- the local Roma from an area Roma have lived for over a year. Before it was a garbage dump and no one was cleaning it or was bothered by it. Do you know who cleaned the Roma in Hania? The “inter-municipal company on solid waste” (στερεα αποβλητα)…
Oh yes! One more thing! Neither Mayor Bakoyannis or anyone else ever answered the letter above! Wonder why? Because she knew that abslolutely no one cares enough to create an embarassment to her or the other Greek authorities, so she and they can proceed according to plan to get rid of that “garbage” at the appropriate time.
United Nations
Economic and Social Council
E/CN.4/2006/67/Add.3
27 March 2006
Original: ENGLISH
COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
Sixty-second session
Item 13 of the provisional agenda
RIGHTS OF THE CHILD
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution
and child pornography, Juan Miguel Petit
Addendum * **
MISSION TO GREECE
(8-15 November 2005)
(…)
79. In Greece, there are some 300,000 Roma, both in settlements and integrated. There are some 60 to 80 camps in the country. During the mission, the Special Rapporteur visited the Votanikos settlement which is basically built next to a garbage dump. It is overrun with rats. Families belonging to the Roma community live there in unacceptable conditions, lacking access to running water, sanitation and other basic services. Several children with whom the Special Rapporteur spoke reported they could not attend schools because they were not allowed entry. A 12-year-old boy said he had never been to school despite several attempts to enrol in several classes. Children were not aware of the existence of the mobility card.
(…)
V. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
(…)
118. Regarding the situation of Roma children, the authorities are called upon to take specific measures to improve the living conditions and the possibilities for development of Roma communities to give Roma children alternatives other than work on the streets or prostitution, as survival strategies for them and their families. The implementation of public policies which secure the access to basic rights, such as education, minimum living standards, housing and health, is needed.
Briefing note of the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights of the United Nations on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, Juan Miguel Petit
Visit to Greece, 8 – 14 November 2005
(…)
The situation of Roma and Roma children is a concern. I visited a Roma settlement in which housing conditions and sanitation are just not acceptable. Access to health and education is limited or lacking and social programmes are not providing assistance to the community. The State should take specific measures to improve the living conditions and the possibilities of development of Roma communities to give to Roma children alternatives other than street work or prostitution as survival strategies for them and their families.
Thank you Panayote for the further information. I thought I had made it clear that the "cleaning operations" were NOT for clearing rubbish but the Roma. However, you have clarified that point for everyone. Thank you.
You write: "The racism against the entire Roma community is extreme and relentless but the people in Votanikos have the additional layer of prejudice because they are Albanian not Greek."
One cannot stress the above too much: it is already too difficult for immigrants from a number of nationalities to find any accommodation in friendly Greece — and this difficulty virtually turns into a virtual impossibility in the case of Roma people (both of Greek and non-Greek citizenship).
(Hello, Panayote.)
DD, Keep up with telling the world on what is going on with groups of Roma in Greece, I mean the issue of education is also a very thorny one; for instance with ethnic Greek parents being loath to having their children co-existing with Roma children in a classroom and acting accordingly.
I find even the words they use to displace the Roma disgusting…"cleaning operation"???? Roma aren’t garbage to be cleaned. They are humans in case the municipalities need reminding. Greece blew 16 billion on the Olympics and yet there’s no money for decent housing and amenities for the Roma?
SeaWitch The word is used when they claim they only remove garbage left behind but in reality they remove human beings. See the relevant report at:
http://www.greekhelsinki.gr/bh.....E_2003.rtf
The whole thing IS disgusting but hardly anyone cares. GHM issued a release on Hania reminding people that in addition to Lebanon homes are also destroyed in Hania and those who protest rigthfully so for the former watch silently (at least) Roma evicitons in Greece.
Phoevos Hi old friend!DD has written about the 500+ missing Albanian Roma street chidren, and I am not sure about the education case.But the recent crisis in Asproprygos where the racists sent the Roma kids they could not prevent from registering to a ghetto school is telling.
See:http://cm.greekhelsinki.gr/ind.....8;cid=2128
Greece, "the home of democrasy", are they kidding?
So much for the (supposed) requirement of Member States to confirm to European standards of Human Rights for ALL citizens: if Greece is allowed to remain as a Member State of the European Union, with its appalling record of treatment of the Romany/Gypsy people there, then Humanity is lost, not merely in the European Union, but throughout the civilized (Democratic?), world.
Where is the Church hiding in Greece, a supposedly staunch Christian country?
When The ‘Master’ said; "And suffer the little children to come unto me!", did He qualify His command by adding; "Lest they be Gypsy!"?
Tom Odley, (Romanichal)
Press/Media Officer, World Gypsy Union
………………………….
So this camp you just visited was just evicted??? Or another one?Really, if it is an issue to the "powers that be" that these people are essentially "trash" (I’d say I can’t believe they use the term "cleaning operation" but I’ve seen too many things in my life not to believe it anymore) then why don’t they put some money into getting them real housing in real areas with water and electricity and making sure the kids get educated and so on? The state has the ability to fix the "problem", but they seem to think it is easier to ignore it. It is really, really sad.
Welcome to my blog, Tom Odley and thank you for taking the time to comment. I would really appreciate more of your insight into the issues.
It’s heartbreaking Mel to see the utter disregard for human life. The settlement I visited is under threat of eviction but while we were there, another group in Hania were being evicted. The pictures in the post above are from there.
Ah, ok. Not that another eviction is any better. Still, it just seems the government could be more proactive with the whole situation and make things better for everyone, instead of just pushing it away. I know the Greek government has a lot of crap it has to fix, but when you are talking about human lives, some things should be more important than others. If they can find the budget to hire more police to do inane crap that isn’t really needed, then they can find the budget to improve the Roma situation.
Mel
They DO have the money and the programs to satisfy the “stupid Franks” (koutofragoi) that they do stuff. But they do NOT want to do anything - they prefer Roma evaporate! How esle would you interpret that Dora did not respond to the letter above? Or that they did what they did in Hania while they were warned.
In Greece when we talk about Roma until and unless Greece can get embarased internationally no one would do anything esle than evicitng them and treating them like trash.
Hi Panayote, DD, and everyone else. I haven’t checked your blog in a while and now that I am back in the states I’ve lost touch with what’s been going on there–it’s so depressing to see that this just goes on and on and on, that Panayote and so many others are working so hard and no one is even listening, the former mayor doesn’t even respond! We haven’t been able to convince ERT to show our film, Garlic and Watermelons, about the Marousi Roma, and not for lack of trying. I’m happy to report, however that at least some people in other parts of the world seem to care a bit, for whatever it’s worth–the film will be playing in Istanbul, Toronto, and Glasgow this fall.
Lavrentia, Thanks for updating us about your film. I am disgusted that no one here seems to be interested in screening it. Does anyone here have any contacts with any TV stations? It is so important that this film is seen by ordinary people and not just documentary festival visitors.
Well done for getting the screenings elsewhere.
Hi,
Listen, the eviction and bulldozing of the Roma’s shacks occurs because these structures were built illegally, without permits and possibly on land not zoned for residential purposes.
As for their sorry, third-world existence, the issue is very complicated.
How can they expect any kind of assistance from the Greek government when they also disobey the law by keeping their kids away from school (even if they are dirty, who cares)? I’m not saying they deserve to live like this but their actions (such as denying the kids a chance to go to school and integrate with the rest of Greek society) really inhibit the integration of their group.
So, instead of looking at one side of the issue, why not examine the deeper issues hindering their integration? True, there is discrimination but that is based on the Roma’s tendency throughout the ages to distance themselves from the majority population…not that that condones discrimination but it is a reasonable explanation. If one Roma member desires to flee their community, they should be given a hand, but they cannot have everything (i.e. not sending kids to school, not paying property and other taxes AND receiving government assistance).
I finished reading your segment on education. I thought is was very well research and insightful. I guess if the Roma had started trying to go to school a few decades ago, maybe by now people wouldn’t react so outrageously towards them. It is a shame but they have to keep persisting so that one day…
Demeter
What you say is a racist stereotype even if you did not mean it!
Who told you Roma prevent their kids from going to school? No one has offered them (in Votanikos) that, while in Aspropyrgos where Greek Helsinki Monitor helped Roam parents send them to school, we ended up having police protection for a month, then we got arrested, and finally the kids were thrown to a ghetto pre-fab “school” far away from the school where they continue to go this year evgen though supposedly the authorities said this is temporary and segergationist - but they did nothing to stop it.
For details, see http://cm.greekhelsinki.gr/ind.....p;cid=2128