Roma families at risk of forced eviction

Eight Roma families, are at risk of forced eviction in Eforie, in south-east Romania by 30 April. The authorities must put in place key international human rights safeguards and ensure that no one is forcibly evicted.

The Municipality of Eforie, in south-east Romania, plans to evict, for the third time in less than two years, around 30 Roma from a building located on number 80, Mihai Viteazu Street by 30 April. The families have been living there since October 2013 when they were forcibly evicted from their long-standing homes on Agricola Street in the same municipality and rendered homeless. The families then moved into the building on number 80, Mihai Viteazu Street, which was a former boarding school. Since then the families have been living in constant fear of another eviction, lacking security of tenure.

The municipality has not put in place key international human rights safeguards against forced evictions. For example, there has been no genuine consultation on alternatives to eviction. On 14 April the families received notifications from the Municipality of Eforie requiring them to pay «all outstanding debts» and vacate the building. The notifications state that after the payment of debts, the «housing commission would provide emergency housing within the limits of the municipality’s available housing budget». The affected Roma families have not been given any further information about the debts mentioned in the notice, nor have they been guaranteed adequate alternative housing prior to eviction.

The latest threat is part of a pattern of forced evictions of Romani families carried out by the Eforie municipality. In October 2013, 101 people including 55 children were forcibly evicted from their homes on Agricola Street and left homeless. Some accepted temporary accommodation after four days in particularly bad weather in an inadequate high-school building nearby, while the remaining 8 families moved into the boarding school on number 80, Mihai Viteazu Street.In July 2014, ten of the families living in the high-school building were again forcibly evicted. Seven were moved to inadequate containers, while three of the families were left homeless.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Amnesty International is concerned that this eviction could amount to a forced eviction if international human rights safeguards against forced evictions are not immediately put in place and it results in homelessness. This is yet another case of Romani communities being forcibly evicted from their homes by local authorities in violation of international human rights standards that Romania is bound by. It is one in a long list of forced evictions documented by Amnesty International and other organizations demonstrating the failure of the Romanian government to outlaw this practice prohibited under international law and ensure that all evictions are subject to appropriate safeguards.
Romania is a party to a range of international and regional human rights treaties, which strictly require it to prohibit, refrain from and prevent forced evictions. These treaties include the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination. The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has emphasized in its General Comment 7 that evictions should only be carried out as a last resort, once all other feasible alternatives to eviction have been explored in genuine consultation with the communities affected. Even if an eviction is considered to be justified, it can only be carried out when the appropriate procedural protections are in place and if compensation for all losses and adequate alternative housing is provided to all people affected.
As recently as December 2014, the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) in its periodic review found Romania falling short of its international obligations, including in relation to forced evictions and protection of the right to adequate housing. CESCR’s Concluding Observations recommended the adoption of all necessary measures to ensure access to adequate housing for disadvantaged and marginalized groups, including Roma. The Romanian authorities were urged to amend national legislation to provide a minimum degree of security of tenure for people living in informal settlements and adopt legislation to ensure that evictions are carried out in compliance with international human rights standards. In particular, forced evictions of Roma should be prevented «until they have been consulted, afforded due process guarantees and provided with alternative accommodation or compensation enabling them to acquire adequate accommodation».

Name: Families at risk of forced eviction in the municipality of Eforie