Eviction of Roma in Bulgaria
29 July 2004
On March 30, 2004, the munici-pal council of the southeastern Bulgarian city of Burgas adopted a decision according to which, within one month, the mayor of Burgas should prepare protocols establishing illegal construction in the city's large neighbourhood Meden Rudnik, and undertake "all legal measures to stop illegal settlement and destroy the illegal construc-tions in the Meden Rudnik neigh-bourhood of Burgas." The decision, which does not envision the provision of alternative housing, targets Romani makeshift dwellings constructed without legal permission housing about 200 Roma. The Romani dwellings were built about five years ago on the periphery of the neighbour-hood. Meden Rudnik has both non-Romani and Romani resi-dents. According to ERRC re-search conducted in April 2004, the shacks had neither electricity nor running water. Water was pro-vided by one pump located among the shacks. Some of the Roma, mostly those who had moved to Meden Rudnik from neighbouring villages and towns in the past sev-eral years, did not have identity cards and were not registered in any municipality. At the end of May, 2004 the municipality started presenting the Roma with eviction protocols according to which the Roma were obliged to demolish the illegal construction at their own expense within fourteen days. After the expiry of the deadline, municipal authorities in the pres-ence of the local police proceeded with the demolition of the shacks. As of July 7, 2004, according to Mr Rumen Cholakov, a Romani activ-ist from Maden Rudnik, at least 25 makeshift dwellings, housing about 90 Roma were destroyed. The people moved to live with relatives and friends in neighbouring houses. On April 19, 2004, Roma from Meden Rudnik with whom the ERRC spoke stated that there were two likely reasons for the decision to demolish the Romani dwellings – the pressure of the Bulgarianresidents of Meden Rudnik and the plans of the municipality to build a supermarket at the place of the Romani ghetto.
According to Rumen Cholakov, in addition to the illegal Romani con-structions in the neighbourhood, there are also illegally built garages belonging to non-Roma but the municipality has not targeted them for demolition.
In 2000 a petition signed by the ethnic Bulgarian residents of Meden Rudnik called for the demo-lition of the Romani dwellings and the expulsion of the Roma from the neighbourhood. The alleged rea-sons for the protests by ethnic Bul-garians were the threats to health posed by the unsanitary conditions of the Romani dwellings and the disturbance of public order caused by the Romani residents. A "Civil Movement for Protection of Meden Rudnik" was established, which has been pressuring local authorities to expel the Roma since then. During the local election campaign in Burgas in October 2003, the candidate of the right coalition, Ms Emilia Nasheva, in-cluded the destruction of the ille-gal Romani dwellings in Meden Rudnik in her plan of action for the city of Burgas.
In its General Comment 7 on the right to adequate housing and forced evictions, the United Na-tions Committee on Economic, So-cial and Cultural Rights, which monitors states' compliance with the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, stated that forced evictions "should not result in individuals being rendered homeless or vul-nerable to the violation of other human rights. Where those af-fected are unable to provide for themselves, the State party must take all appropriate measures, to the maximum of its available re-sources, to ensure that adequate alternative housing, resettlement or access to productive land, as the case may be, is available." (ERRC)
