Spanish Authorities Fail to Provide Alternative Accommodation for Forcibly Evicted Romani Families
22 February 2005
On February 11, 2005, the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) sent a letter to Ms Rita Barberá, Mayor of Valencia, Spain, expressing concern at the forced eviction of, and the failure by Valencia authorities to provide alternative accommodation for, approximately ten Romani families in the absence of adequate procedural protections. The ERRC also noted that an additional forty families also face forced eviction. The ERRC urged Spanish authorities to take all necessary steps to ensure the provision of adequate alternative accommodation for the affected Romani families and to refrain from any further forced evictions of Roma in the absence of adequate accommodation solutions and appropriate procedural guarantees. Copies of the letter were sent to Mr Enrique Mugica Herzog, Spain's Defensor del Pueblo (Ombudsman), Mr Candido Conde Pumbido, Spain's Fiscalía General Del Estado (General Prosecutor), Ms Soledad Murillo de la Vega, Spain's Secretaría General de Políticas de Igualdad (Secretary General for Equality Policies), and Mr Miloon Kothari, Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. The full text of the ERRC letter:
