Romanian Municipality Systematically Infringes Right to Adequate Housing of Roma

21 February 2007

Mayor Urged to Improve the Housing Situation of Roma

Bucharest, Budapest, 16 February 2007. The European Roma Rights Centre and the Romanian Helsinki Committee have sent a letter to the Mayor of Tulcea Constantin Hogea, in relation to the dismal housing situation of the Romani communities in Tulcea, Romania. More specifically, Mr. Hogea was asked to urgently intervene in order to improve the living conditions of those families segregated in buildings outside the Tulcea town limits, as well as of those families presently living in mobile houses located on a garbage dump. These families remained homeless as a result of an eviction carried out in October 2006. Finally, Mr. Hogea was urged to reexamine his decision to forcefully evict ten other Romani families in light of domestic and international human rights law. The letter was copied to a number of other agencies, including Romanian government officials, as well as relevant European Union and Council of Europe desks.

The full text of the letter follows here:

• In English:
• In Romanian: