Repeated Eviction of Romani Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina

23 July 2004

On March 24, 2004, the Banja Luka-based daily newspaper Nezavisne novine reported that police evicted several itinerant Romani families from the tempo-rary residence they had con-structed in front of the castle in the centre of the northern Bosnian city of Banja Luka. The daily reported that the families were not provided with an alternative site on which to set up their accommodation. They reportedly moved near a car dealership to the outskirts of town but were again evicted by police. Within several days, however, they had re-established their tents in front of the castle. Police repre-sentatives were reported by the daily to have stated that the Romani group would be forced to leave the site. The housing rights situation of Roma in Bosnia and Herzegovina compromises a major portion of the ERRC country report The Non-Constituents: Rights Deprivation of Roma in Post-Genocide Bosnia and Herzegovina, available HERE.

(Nezavisne novine)