Since there is a wish to change the housing law, the time is right to transpose these international provisions into Romanian legislation, said Amnesty International program director Audrey Gaughran.
Amnesty International and Romani CRISS, an NGO which promotes the rights of Roma people, have carried out a study of Roma communities forcibly evicted from Romania in recent years. The two organizations criticize the way local authorities in various Romanian towns handled these evictions, noting violations of the proper procedure and problems with the places to which the Roma were moved.
Romani CRISS program director Marian Mandache gave the example of a Roma community in Miercurea Ciuc, central Romania. The Roma were evicted from a social home in the city center, which the authorities decided to tear down, and allowed to live in tin sheds on the outskirts of town, next to a water purification plant.
According to Mandache, this instance displays “all of the three classic ingredients of illegality:” ethnic segregation, the violation of the right to live in proper conditions and the violation of the right to health, since the Roma were moved to an area “with a high level of toxicity.”
Mandache said problems were reported in other areas of the country. He warned of the “dire” consequences on the lives of the evictees, who have lost access to social services, education and work, as well as self-respect.
Fotis Filippou, researcher for Amnesty International’s Europe and Central Asia program, said the right to a home is not “a privilege” but “a fundamental right.”
Gaughran said that, in the case of evictions from illegally-occupied buildings, Romanian law currently only protects the owner, while European law requires the state to protect the evacuee as well.