Retaliation against Roma

I received this very disturbing press release from the Greek Helsinki Monitor (GHM) about the Municipality of Aspropyrgos. Official complaints have been made to the European Committee of Social Rights and the European Court of Human Rights regarding their treatment of Roma families including illegal evictions and the segregation of Roma children in school. In retaliation, the authorities have asked for immediate demolition of the settlements and lawsuits brought against some members of the community.

I will post the full press release after the fold but here are some of the main points in brief.

The municipal councilors were reported to have decided to ask the Western Attica Prefecture to issue protocols of demolition of the shacks that are unlicensed but after making sure that they will be targeting only Roma (GHM note: in the area there are also unlicensed constructions by non-Roma); to visit the Minister of Interior to brief him on the case; to ask the urban zoning authority to take action against the shacks; to publish announcements in the local and national media; and to “safeguard the area.”

Journalist Georgia Krystalli (who regularly writes on municipal council meetings and related news) wrote about the meeting in Thriassio, a daily newspaper published in Aspropyrgos

She concluded by referring to racist reactions, and especially by condemning the fact that one councilor of the municipal majority (pro-government) stated that “there is a need of a Hitler or a Ceausescu to deal with the problem.”

The Greek Helsinki Monitor notes several things about the meeting:
It was set up as an informal meeting so that no minutes had to be recorded.
No Roma were present.
Evictions and destruction of building will only target Roma. In the area, there are also unlicensed constructions by non-Roma.

The press release has a lot of background information of the legal case against the Aspropyrgos segregated school too. I have posted about the school several times in the past with photographs.
Segregated school
Arson
Roma Education

I am glad that there are a few people who are checking up on what goes on in these meetings without our knowledge and are trying to prevent these illegal and racist actions. I will update you on the situation as soon as I know more.

PRESS RELEASE

28 January 2009

Greece: Authorities decide on retaliatory eviction of Roma after admissibility of collective complaint to the ECSR on Roma housing and ECtHR judgment on school segregation

Greek Helsinki Monitor (GHM) reports the reactions of the Municipality of Aspropyrgos, where hundreds of Roma families live mostly in destitute settlements and have been victims of -or are threatened with- unlawful evictions, to two recent decisions of European (quasi-)judicial bodies concerning exclusively or partly the Roma living in that municipality. GHM calls on all competent international institutions, including those who took these decisions, to urgently undertake appropriate action to help prevent the implementation of the retaliatory eviction of the Roma decided by the municipality, as well as compel Greece to integrate the Roma children into the regular school close to their settlement.

A. Municipality of Aspropyrgos reacts to collective complaint on Roma housing

On 2 December 2008, Thriassio (a daily published in Aspropyrgos) had a front page main title “European Union decries dismal living conditions of Roma” (http://thriassio.gr/1184.pdf). In the inside pages 2 and 6, journalist Georgia Krystalli –who regularly writes on municipal council meetings and related news- reported that on that day a meeting of the municipal council was scheduled. To its agenda was added in the last moment the letter of the Executive Secretariat of the Council of Europe’s European Committee of Social Rights (ECSR) on the collective complaint against Greece (on Roma housing rights and evictions filed by Interights with the help of GHM – http://www.coe.int/t/dghl/monitoring/socialcharter/Complaints/CC49CaseDoc1_en.pdf). This letter (presumably translated into Greek) was sent to various ministries and municipalities. Additionally, the topic of the “mass reactions of residents” for the burning of wires (by some Aspropyrgos Roma) was added. The article then had an extensive presentation of the content of the collective complaint. It is recalled by GHM that the complaint was declared admissible on 23 September 2008 (http://www.coe.int/t/dghl/monitoring/socialcharter/Complaints/CC49Admiss_en.pdf) and that Greece sent its observations on the merits to the ECSR on 19 December 2008, after an extension of the original deadline of 21 November 2008 requested by Greece was granted (http://www.coe.int/t/dghl/monitoring/socialcharter/Complaints/CC49CaseDoc4_en.pdf).

On 4 December 2008, Thriassio had a front page main title “The Municipality of Aspropyrgos will ask for the demolition of the Gypsy shacks with the contribution of the Prefecture” (http://thriassio.gr/1186.pdf). In the inside pages 2 and 4, journalist Georgia Krystalli reported on the meeting of the municipal council that took the form of an informal meeting – (GHM note: so that no minutes had to be recorded). The meeting was attended by the Commander of the Aspropyrgos Police Station and the Deputy Director of the Western Attica Police Directorate “to present general and Gypsy criminality data.” It was also attended by the lawyer of the owners of the plots trespassed by Roma; as well as several “enraged citizens” who live close to where wires are burnt by Roma (GHM note: no Roma were present…). Mayor Nikos Meletiou made a presentation of the problem of the Roma and the Interights complaint (the NGO name is mentioned). The exchange among municipal councilors of various municipal factions is summarized in the article. With the exception of the faction close to the Radical Left Coalition party (Syriza), that backed the creation of an adequate settlement and the purchase of the wires by the municipality as in Bologna so that they are not burnt by Roma who try to extract copper to earn a living, all others were hostile to the Roma. Moreover, the top police officers stated that they face NGOs “which check every move of the police” and which argue that every eviction of Roma must be accompanied by resettlement. The lawyer and the mayor were reported to have mentioned that they had filed criminal actions against the Roma that will soon reach the courts. Additionally, they stated that they will seek court-imposed evictions from private properties that will not be subjected to any prior relocation requirement. The municipal councilors were reported to have decided to ask the Western Attica Prefecture to issue protocols of demolition of the shacks that are unlicensed but after making sure that they will be targeting only Roma (GHM note: in the area there are also unlicensed constructions by non-Roma); to visit the Minister of Interior to brief him on the case; to ask the urban zoning authority to take action against the shacks; to publish announcements in the local and national media; and to “safeguard the area.” The journalist concluded by referring to racist reactions, and especially by condemning the fact that one councilor of the municipal majority (pro-government) stated that “there is a need of a Hitler or a Ceausescu to deal with the problem.”

B. Previous reactions of the Municipality of Aspropyrgos

On 5 June 2008, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) issued a judgment in the case of Sampanis and Others v. Greece (application no. 32526/05). The applicants, Roma residing in a settlement located in the “Psari” area of Aspropyrgos, were represented by GHM. Their claims concerned the refusal of education authorities to enroll their children in the local primary school during the school year 2004-2005 and their subsequent placement in an annex to the local 10th Primary School, attended only by Roma, located five kilometers from the primary school in the school year 2005-2006 (GHM note: and ever since). The Court found a violation of Article 14 (prohibition of discrimination) of the European Convention on Human Rights, in conjunction with Article 2 (right to education) of Protocol 1, regarding the applicants’ claims that their children were placed in a segregated school following a short period of time when they attended classes at the local primary school, due to the reaction of local non-Romani parents who did not want their children to attend the same school with Romani children and had in fact staged numerous protests, including preventing their children from attending school. The Court held that it was necessary to take into account these “incidents of a racist character” that had taken place and concluded that these events had an impact on the authorities’ decision to send the Romani children to the segregated annex school housed in prefabricated containers.

On 9 June 2008, Thriassio, in reporting the ECtHR judgment, had a front page main title “Unanimous conviction of Aspropyrgos by the European Court for racist behavior towards Gypsy children. Organizations run through European funding in the name of protecting the Roma, denounces former Mayor G. Liakos to our newspaper.” GHM notes that at the time of the events that led to the ECtHR judgment the Mayor of Aspropyrgos was Georgios Liakos while the current mayor Nikos Meletiou was then Deputy Mayor. The inside pages of that issue are not available on line, unlike the cover page (http://thriassio.gr/newpage420.htm).

On 16 July 2008, a major fire ravaged parts of the industrial area in Aspropyrgos, where Roma settlements are also located; scores of Roma shacks were damaged too and many of those Roma, mainly Albanian Roma, were prevented from resettling there afterwards. Faced with criticism for his failure to prevent or limit the fire, Mayor Nikolaos Meletiou issued a statement on 17 July 2008 (http://www.aspropyrgos.gr/PressOfficeReportView.action?pressreportID=7), blaming the fire on the Roma and their “instigators” – the state that tolerates their presence; the police that does not uphold the law when Roma break it; the Greek Ombudsman biased in favor of Roma and against non-Roma who are victims of racism by those who have made of the Roma’s cultural specificity and alleged racism against Roma a profitable business; human rights professionals of “falsely labeled civil society actors” NGOs, made up of fellow Greeks who do not know where Aspropyrgos is and the hell people live therein but defend human rights for all except for the Aspropyrgos residents.

On 9 September 2008, UN Independent Expert on Minority Issues (UN IEMI) Gay McDougall met with Ministry of Education officials in Athens, raising among other things the issue of the implementation of the Sampanis ECtHR judgment. The next day she visited the “ghetto annex” and the settlement in Psari, Aspropyrgos: she saw the school -that had once again been destroyed during the summer holidays- being hastily repaired; she also saw Roma parents -who had been informed on that same day that the next day their children can attend school- purchasing school material for the pupils who were showing eagerness to go to school. Following her visit at the Psari and the Spata (near the Athens airport) Roma settlements, four chemical toilets were hurried to each settlement. Water was also provided, by means of a water carrier that transported water to each settlement on a daily basis. GHM notes that some 100+ families live in Psari while only some 20 families live in Spata; yet the same new facilities were provided to both communities [Also following her visit, the Spata children were encouraged to register to go to school again after two years of having being denied access to school: in early November 2008 the state finally made it possible for the class for those children to start.] The provision of water through water carriers in both settlements and the toilets in Psari were called off after the ECRI visit (see below), indicative that it was mere window dressing by the Ministry of Interior and the municipalities.

As for the ghetto annex (of the Sampanis judgment), it was renamed in 2008-2009 from an annex to the 10th Primary School into a new school (12th Primary School), but only Roma children were assigned to attend it, while there were no new facilities that would make it a normal school. The non-Roma children who live next door to the 12th Primary School were still assigned to attend classes at the farther away (and closer to the Roma settlement) 10th Primary School. The Mayor and the Prefect moreover opposed the integration of the Roma classes into a regular primary school (11th Primary School) which is even farther away from the settlement than both the 10th Primary School and the ghetto annex – 12th Primary School. This –still inappropriate- integration was suggested by the Ministry of Education and surprisingly backed by the Greek Ombudsman. The Roma concerned were not involved in or merely consulted for the Ministry’s and Ombudsman’s suggestion. Roma parents (still represented by GHM) continued to wish that their children attend the 10th Primary School which is closer to the settlement and has also non-Roma pupils. The Mayor of Aspropyrgos stated in a formal letter to the competent authorities (including the Ombudsman) on 25 September 2008 (the day he also met with ECRI – see below), that the Roma children are in the segregated school not because of any problem of overcrowding in the other schools, but because of the choice of nomadic life by the tent-dwelling Roma; their life amidst garbage that they pile up; their indifference towards the rudimentary rules of hygiene; and especially their insistence in carrying out unlawful actions mainly against the vulnerable groups and the population of Asproyrgos as a whole (http://www.aspropyrgos.gr/PressOfficeNewsView.action?newID=26#). Hence, the segregated annex classes for Roma pupils only in inadequate facilities and with inadequate education offered continue to function for the 50+ pupils that started attending them in September 2008. Greece had opted to blatantly ignore the Sampanis judgment and show that, beyond any doubt, this school segregation was the result only of racism.

On 26 September 2008, Thriassio reported with pictures (pages 1, 2 and 4) on the European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) visit to the Municipality of Aspropyrgos, a day earlier, in the presence of the Mayor and the non-Roma (and also anti-Roma) local associations, but without any Roma again (http://thriassio.gr/1140.pdf). Excerpts of the Mayor speech to ECRI were included in the newspaper, while the whole multi-page speech was released by, but is not available on the website of, the municipality (GHM has a faxed copy). The Mayor first attacked the UN Independent Expert on Minority Issues (UN IEMI) Gay McDougall who, two weeks earlier, had visited the Roma settlements but not the municipality, unlike ECRI. GHM notes that state authorities had arranged this ECRI visit to the municipality and had not arranged any visit to the settlement: ECRI visited the settlements just like the UN IEMI before ECRI, with the help of GHM. The Mayor also attacked the US Ambassador who had –some months earlier- also visited the Roma settlements; as well as the Ombudsman and the NGOs. He then went on with an extremely racist attack against the “wandering tent-dwelling athiganoi” [pejorative for Roma] “who insist on a nomadic life” “settle on private property encouraged by human rights authorities or NGOs” “oppress the local community” that “falls victim of harassment and unlawful actions of the wandering athiganoi;” he went on “documenting” the alleged widespread Roma criminality.

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