SeRbIA Stop the forced evictionS of roma SettlementS HOUSING IS A HUMAN RIGHT 2 SeRbIA Stop the forced evictionS of roma SettlementS © ‘[The] practice of forced C E E eviction constitutes a gross B a n k w violation of human rights, a t c h in particular the right N e t w o to adequate housing.’ r k UN Commission on Human Rights, Resolution 1993/77, para 1. On 31 August 2009 at around 10am, under international law. Consultations held above : A bulldozer demolishing houses at the Romani inhabitants of a settlement with the communities were inadequate, the Gazela Bridge settlement in Belgrade, underneath the Gazela Bridge in Belgrade, no compensation was provided for loss 31 August 2009. Serbia, found themselves surrounded by of and damage to personal property, no police. Trucks and bulldozers appeared. legal remedies were provided and the No journalists were allowed near the site. resettlement options failed to meet requirements under international human place unless absolutely necessary; that any The forced eviction of the Gazela settlement rights standards. This report documents further evictions are carried out in accordance took less than three hours. By 1pm almost the forced eviction of Gazela, outlines with international standards, including the 200 homes had been destroyed. Few of the human rights violations which took provision of adequate alternative housing; the 178 Roma families had enough time place and, considering the continuing and that effective remedies are made to rescue their belongings before the threat of further forced evictions, makes available to all those who have been the bulldozers moved in. Most took with them recommendations to the Serbian authorities. victims of forced evictions. only what they could carry. Around 114 families were bussed to six sites on the Amnesty International calls on the Serbian outskirts of Belgrade and given government, and the Belgrade city authorities accommodation in metal containers. in particular, to ensure that no evictions take Another 64 families were transported to municipalities in southern Serbia. Forced evictions The settlement was evicted by the City of Belgrade authorities in advance of repair a forced eviction is the removal of people own or lease the land or housing in question. works on the dilapidated Gazela Bridge, part against their will from the homes or land they not every eviction that is carried out by force of the redevelopment of Serbia’s motorway occupy, without legal protections and other constitutes a forced eviction. if the system. Several other Roma settlements in safeguards including: genuine consultation appropriate safeguards are in place, a lawful Belgrade and across Serbia will be evicted as with those affected, prior and adequate eviction which involves a proportionate use part of this massive infrastructure project. notice, and provision of adequate alternative of force does not violate the prohibition of The eviction of the Gazela settlement was housing, regardless of whether they rent, forced evictions. carried out without the safeguards required Amnesty International June 2010 index: eUr 70/003/2010 SeRbIA 3 Stop the forced evictionS of roma SettlementS © C E E B a n k w a t c h N e t w o r k GAzelA bRIdGe residents envisaged 400 small houses, a above : Roma residents gather as the demolition community centre providing social, health of the settlement at Gazela Bridge begins, Plans for the eviction of the 800 and job training services, a kindergarten, 31 August 2009. predominantly Romani people living under and a recycling centre employing around the Gazela Bridge started before September 250 people. 2007 when Putevi Srbjie (Roads of Serbia, a state-owned company) signed an After three proposed locations were rejected were forcibly evicted in advance of the agreement for a €77 million loan from the by local residents, the city authorities World Student Games. Hostile local European Bank for Reconstruction and proposed a new site in the Belgrade suburb residents in the suburb where containers Development (EBRD) and the European of Ovča. However, the architects’ plans had been hastily prepared for their Investment Bank (EIB). The loan covered were abandoned in October 2008 after resettlement, attempted to set fire to the reconstruction of the 30-year-old Gazela further demonstrations by local residents containers. Some women and children Bridge over the river Sava, linking Old opposed to Roma living in their community. were taken to a social welfare centre, but and New Belgrade, the construction of The Roma Union of Serbia accused the city most of the Roma were left without shelter, approach roads and a section of the of failing to address such discrimination. attracting local and international protest. Belgrade bypass. The EBRD and EIB conditioned the release of funding on the In February 2009, without any In May 2009 the City approved an Action resettlement of the Gazela community by consultation, Deputy Mayor of Belgrade Plan for the Resettlement of Shanty the City of Belgrade in accordance with Milan Krkobabić announced a new plan Settlements . Plans for the Gazela eviction the 1990 World Bank Operational Directive for Gazela. Some 114 Romani families – were set out in an Amended Action Plan, 4.30 on Involuntary Resettlement . Belgrade residents and internally dated 25 August, and approved by the City displaced people from Kosovo – would Assembly only two days before the eviction In 2007 a census was conducted of the receive “new accommodation” in different took place. The Amended Action Plan was Gazela population and by 2008, the city municipalities around Belgrade. Others never officially made public, or shown to authorities, working with Roma Heart, a would be returned to southern Serbia from the Roma community. Vladan Đukić, head non-governmental organization (NGO), where they originated. of the City Secretariat for Social Welfare, started consultation on the resettlement only informed the Gazela Roma that they with the residents. By mid-2008, architects’ In March, more than 250 Roma living in would be evicted and resettled in plans for new homes for the Gazela a settlement at Blok 67 in New Belgrade containers less than six weeks before the index: eUr 70/003/2010 Amnesty International June 2010 4 SeRbIA Stop the forced evictionS of roma SettlementS © © A C m E E n e B s a t y n k I n w t a e t r c n h a t N i o e n t w a l o r k eviction took place on 31 August 2009. A vIOlATION Of INTeRNATIONAl Serbia is required under international Despite the EBRD’s condition that Gazela STANdARdS human rights law to refrain from and protect residents should be resettled in accordance people from forced evictions. This means with the World Bank Operational Directive “Nobody can stand in the way of adopting and implementing laws that on Involuntary Resettlement , the reality fell Belgrade’s development,” comply with international standards which far short of the directive, and of Vladan Đukić, head of the City Secretariat for Social set out the safeguards that should be international human rights standards. Welfare, in charge of the Gazela resettlement, complied with during evictions. Serbia has Amnesty International interview, 6 February 2010. Amnesty International considers that not adopted such laws. Those evicted do not Gazela residents were forcibly evicted. have access to any legal remedy to prevent tHe riGHt to AdeQUAte HoUsinG The right to adequate housing, which of Discrimination against Women; the views shelter exclusively as a commodity. includes the right to be protected from European Convention on Human Rights; Rather it should be seen as the right to live forced eviction, is guaranteed in several and Article 16 of the Revised European somewhere in security, peace and dignity.” international and regional human rights Social Charter. As a state party to these treaties. These include Article 11(1), treaties, Serbia has a legal obligation to In 2007 the UN Special Rapporteur on International Covenant on Economic, guarantee the right to adequate housing. adequate housing issued the Basic Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR); principles and guidelines on development- Article 17, International Covenant on Civil The UN Committee on Economic, Social based evictions and displacement (Basic and Political Rights (ICCPR); Article 27(4), and Cultural Rights (CESCR) has principles). The Basic Principles, based on Convention on the Rights of the Child; emphasized that “the right to housing international treaties and the General Article 5(e), International Convention on should not be interpreted in a narrow or Comments of UN treaty bodies, aim to the Elimination of All Forms of Racial restrictive sense which equates it with, for ensure that evictions are absolutely Discrimination; Article 14(2)(h) of the example, the shelter provided by merely necessary, carried out lawfully, and protect Convention on the Elimination of All Forms having a roof over one’s head or which the human rights of those evicted. Amnesty International June 2010 index: eUr 70/003/2010 SeRbIA 5 Stop the forced evictionS of roma SettlementS © A P P h o t o / D a r k o V o j i n o v i c the eviction, or to compensate them for the Lilijana, an internally displaced person from left to right: A bus waits to transport Roma violations which took place. (IDP) fled from Kosovo in 1999, and after a to resettlement sites on the outskirts of year in Bela Palanka in southern Serbia, Belgrade as City employees look on, 31 August In this report Amnesty International moved to Gazela where she ran a small 2009. Interior of Roma home in Belvil highlights some of the human rights shop. Mima, her daughter, works at the settlement, February 2010. A Roma woman violations which took place before, during post office in New Belgrade.