Russian Authorities Threaten Romani Families with Forced Eviction
11 March 2005
According to information provided to the ERRC by the St Petersburg-based non-governmental organisation Northwest Center of Social and Legal Protection of Roma (Center), sixteen Romani families, comprising about one hundred people including small children, face forced eviction from their informal shacks in the northwestern Russian city of Arkhangelsk.
According to the Center, the families arrived in Arkhangelsk and requested land from local authorities on which to build houses. Order No 739/1 dated February 7, 2004, issued by Mr Kalinin, first assistant to Arkhangelsk's mayor, indicates the preliminary co-ordination of a plot on which to construct houses and assigns the postal address Tarasov Street 37. The Center informed the ERRC that approximately two months later, an investigation by the City Planning Commission revealed that the construction of houses had already begun, though no permits had been issued. At this point, the Arkhangelsk Mayor's Office applied for a court order for the destruction of the buildings. The hearing of the complaint was scheduled for November 23, 2004, before the Lomonosov District Court of Arkhangelsk. According to the Center, the constructions are temporary in nature and were built by the Romani families to provide some protection from impending harmful winter weather. If evicted, the families have nowhere to go and will effectively become homeless during the harsh weather northern Russian experiences in the wintertime.
On November 19, 2004, the ERRC and its partner organisation Moscow Helsinki Group (MHG) sent a letter to the chairman of the Lomonosov District Court of Arkhangelsk, copied to the Mayor of Arkhangelsk, Mr Nilov, noting that the destruction of the homes would breach numerous domestic and international human rights standards related to housing and forced evictions and asking that the order requested by the Arkhangelsk Mayor's Office not be issued.
On December 7, 2004, Mayor Nilov responded to the ERRC/MHG stating that the Mayor's Office does not condone discrimination against Roma as presented in the media. On December 13, 2004, Ms Marina Nosova, a lawyer of the Center informed the ERRC that the affected Roma proposed to destroy the temporary buildings immediately upon receipt of official permission to build houses on the land during the pre-trial hearing on November 22, 2004. A representative of the Mayor's office rejected the proposed settlement. On December 17, 2004, the Lomonosov District Court of Arkhangelsk found the temporary structures unwarranted and ordered the Roma to demolish them. On January 11, 2005, the Roma filed an appeal against the decision with the Arkhangelsk Regional Court. The Court scheduled a hearing for March 14, 2005.
Comprehensive information on the human rights situation of Roma in Russia available in a written submission by the ERRC on Roma rights in Russia, provided to the US Helsinki Commission in Washington DC, a body comprised of esteemed US Congresspersons engaged on human rights in US foreign policy. The submission summarises the main conclusions of ERRC monitoring in Russia, which has revealed alarming patterns of abuse of Roma and other people perceived as "Gypsies". The document was presented in advance of a hearing before the US Helsinki Commission, taking place on September 23, in which ERRC staff and other Roma rights activists testified before US congresspersons. Issues documented in the course of ongoing ERRC research in Russia include:
- Torture and Ill Treatment of Roma by Law Enforcement Officials
- Arbitrary Police Raids on Romani Settlements
- Abduction and Extortion of Money by the Police
- Racial Profiling by Police and Other Officials
- Discrimination against Roma in the Criminal Justice System
- Denial of Fair Trial in Cases in which Roma are Accused of Crimes
- Denial of Access to Justice
- Hate Speech against Roma in Russian Media
- Lack of Personal Documents
- Obstructed Access to Social and Economic Rights
- Blocked Access to Education
- Denial of Access to Adequate Housing
- Violence by state officials, paramilitary and nationalist-extremist groups, and discriminatory treatment of Roma in the exercise of their civil, social and economic rights are aggravated by the complete absence of governmental action to address these problems.
The full text of the written submission on the human rights situation of Roma in Russia, provided to the US Helsinki Commission, is available at: http://www.errc.org/cikk.php?cikk=2018.
(ERRC, Northwest Center for Social and Legal Protection of Roma)
