ERRC Action to Challenge Systemic Substandard Housing of Roma in Bulgaria

21 April 2005

On 21 April, 2005, the European Roma Rights Centre brought a Collective Complaint under the Revised European Social Charter (RESC) against Bulgaria for persistent and systematic violations of the right of the family to social, legal and economic protection with respect to Roma in Bulgaria as guaranteed under Article 16 of the Charter and related international standards. In order to ensure the necessary conditions for the full development of the family, which is a fundamental unit of society, Bulgaria has undertaken under Article 16 of the RESC "to promote the economic, legal and social protection of family life by means such as social and family benefits, fiscal arrangements, provision of family housing, benefits for the newly married, and by other appropriate means."

The ERRC Collective Complaint alleges that these commitments are not upheld with respect to Roma at present in Bulgaria, because the Bulgarian government has adopted and/or tolerated a range of policies and practices that strike at the fundamental basis of family existence, namely the need for security, privacy and shelter, and freedom from racial and other discrimination.

The full text of the complaint is available at: .