Threatened Eviction of Roma in Serbia and Montenegro

11 March 2005

According to ERRC research, conducted in partnership with the Belgrade-based non-governmental organisation Minority Rights Center (MRC), ninety-eight Romani families, including displaced Roma from Kosovo, living in Belgrade's Blok 28 and Tosin Bunar settlements, were presented with eviction orders. The local government and the Ministry of Human and Minority Rights stated that the evictions would be postponed. According to ERRC/MRC research, the eviction order presented to the Romani inhabitants of the Tosin Bunar settlement were ordered to dismantle the settlement themselves and restore the area to its original form because they had built their homes on private property without permission. The area is owned by a private company, which tried to evict the Romani families several times in two years. As of the end of January 2005, several homes in the Blok 28 settlement had been destroyed and the residents had moved to another area in the same settlement, according to ERRC/MRC research. No evictions had yet taken place in the Tosin Bunar settlement. For further information on the human rights situation of Roma in Serbia and Montenegro, see "The Protection of Roma Rights in Serbia and Montenegro", a memorandum prepared by the ERRC in association with the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Human Rights Field Operation in Serbia and Montenegro (UN OHCHR), available on the Internet at: http://www.errc.org/cikk.php?cikk=333.

(ERRC, MRC)