Greece
27.06.01
Urgent Interventions

Greece: concern about the human rights situation of the Roma

PRESS RELEASE

The Preparation of the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens: The World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) expresses its deep concern over the human rights violations of the Roma population living in Attica (Greater Athens and adjacent municipalities) and calls upon the International Olympic Committee and the Greek authorities to take appropriate action

Besides repeated denial of their fundamental human rights, the Roma population living in Attica has also been facing repeated threats of, or actual forced eviction, allegedly as part of the “preparation” of Athens for the 2004 Olympic Games. Local authorities (in Aghia Paraskevi, Ano Liosia, Aspropyrgos, Halandri, Nea Iona) have openly claimed that they want the land on which the Roma are or can be settled to build sports facilities for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.

On July 14th 2000, the municipal authorities of Aspropygos, equipped with a bulldozer, entered a settlement of Romani tent-dwellers in Aspropygos, approximately 15 kilometres west of Athens (Attica). In the presence of the Mayor of Aspropygos and the police, they demolished most of the homes of the Roma camp. The homes belonged to Greek and Albanian Roma and contained their personal belongings. According to eye-witnesses, no eviction protocols or orders were presented to the Roma families. Indeed, the operation was carried out without the authorisation or presence of a public prosecutor, as it required under Greek law in cases of violation of privacy and the home.

This eviction case is in clear violation of international human rights commitments freely undertaken by Greece. Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which forms a part of the International Bill of Rights and which has been ratified by Greece, guarantees the right to adequate housing. The United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights , which monitors compliance with the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, made it clear in its General Comment No. 4 that the right to adequate housing should be seen as “the right to live somewhere in security, peace and dignity”, entailing, inter alias “a degree of security of tenure which guarantees legal protection against forced evictions, harassment and other threats”.

The action taken by the services of the Municipality of Aspropygos resulted in the expulsion of the Roma from their encampment and the demolition of their homes. According to eye-witnesses, only eight homes escaped demolition, which at the time were occupied by aged persons or people with health problems who could not move immediately.

A subsequent report by the Greek Ombudsman, released on January 26th 2001, found that the action taken by Municipality of Aspropygos violated Greek law and was therefore illegal. The report further recommended that a prompt and impartial investigation into the action of the Aspropygos Municipality be carried out in order to bring those responsible to justice.

To date, OMCT notes with concern that no prompt and impartial investigation has been carried out, that those responsible have not been brought to justice, and that the victims have not been compensated.

The authorities’ failure to carry out prompt and impartial investigation, to bring those responsible to justice, and to compensate the victims, as well as their open claim that they want the land on which the Roma are or can be settled to build sports facilities for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games does not augur improvement in the future.

OMCT also remains very concerned about the current situation of Roma living in settlements around Athens - notably in Aspropyrgos, Halandri, Marousi and Spata - where they often lack access to electricity, water, and other basic services. The frequent absence of public transports also results in preventing children from attending school.

The settlement of Roma in such areas responds to the application of article 3.1 of a 1983 ministerial decision which states that “the lands for the organised encampments of wandering nomads (Gypsies, etc.) which are going to be designated must be outside the inhabited areas and in good distance from the approved urban plan or the last consecutive houses”.

In a recent visit to Greece Josephine Verspaget, Chair of the Specialist Group on Roma/Gypsies of the Council of Europe, after visiting Roma settlements around Athens declared that “there are conditions of institutionalised apartheid for many Roma, when they are forcefully settled in segregated areas far away from the rest of society”.

In this regard, OMCT recalls that Greece as a state party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights is bound to respect the right to adequate housing which includes the availability of services, materials, facilities and infrastructure such as safe drinking water, energy for cooking, heating and lighting.

OMCT also believes that the International Olympic Committee, as a co-organiser of the 2004 Olympic Games cannot remain indifferent to this blatant violation of human rights which, if tolerated, will only tarnish the image and the values of the Olympic movement.

For more information please contact:

Nathalie Mivelaz
The World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT)
Tel.: ++41 22 809 49 39
E-mail: nm@omct.org