13.08.03
Urgent Interventions
Greece: Criminal Charges retained against 27 Roma living in destitute conditions in the Glykeia settlement
OMCT/HIC-HLRN
JOINT URGENT ACTION APPEAL:Criminal Charges against 27 Roma and Destitute Living Conditions in the Roma Settlement of Glykeia
GREECE, Case GRE-FE 110803
The International Secretariat of the World Organisation against Torture (OMCT) and the Coordination Office of Housing and Land Rights Network of Habitat International Coalition (HIC-HLRN) request your URGENT intervention in the following situation in Greece.
The situation
The Greek Helsinki Monitor (GHM), a member of the OMCT network, has informed the International Secretariat of OMCT that Greek authorities have initiated criminal charges against 27 Roma living in Glykeia, Municipality of Nea Tiryntha, Prefecture of Argolida, Southern Greece. According to the information received, the Prefecture has accused them of violating national sanitary provisions regulating living conditions in temporary settlements. It is reported that these charges do not have adequate grounds for prosecution and have been brought even though the court acquitted the same 27 Roma of the same charges in 1999.
These new charges indict the 5 men and 22 women for having intentionally violated the Minister of Internal Affairs and Minister of Health’s Decision entitled, “Sanitary Provision for the organized relocation of wandering nomads” (A5/696/25.4-11.5.83), from November 1998 to 17 July 1999. The indictment reportedly specified violations of Article 1 paragraphs 1 and 2 of the Sanitary Provision, which prohibit the “unchecked, without permit, encampment of wandering nomads (athinganoi, etc.)” but authorizes the temporary encampment “provided that there is a prior relevant decision of the Prefect and a permit.”
According to the information received the Prefecture Council of Argolida settled the Roma in Glykeia in 1986, where they have been living since then. As it is the Prefecture that settled the Roma in Glykeia, their settlement complies with the cited sections of the Sanitary Provision that allow encampments with “a prior relevant decision of the Prefect,” rendering the present charges groundless.
It is reported that the Roma settlement in Glykeia is adjacent to the Open Air Prison Facility of Tiryntha and that it was the Chief Warden of the prison who asked for the prosecution by sending a letter (document Ref. No. 6787/27-11-1998) to the Prosecutor. The dates of November 1998 and 17 June 1999 cited in the indictment reflect the period running from the Chief Warden’s letter to Prosecutor’s office until the Police Station of Nafplio reported, without any investigation, the names of the 27 Roma to the Prosecutor’s office. The 27 Roma involved in the pending trial were reportedly tried and acquitted on the same charges on 21 June 1999, the same month the current indictment was filed.
The GHM and SOKADRE (Coordinated Organizations and Communities for Roma Human Rights in Greece) are currently supporting the Roma. However, GHM has indicated, for lack of funds, the 27 Roma currently do not have legal representation..
The Roma are scheduled for trial in the Misdemeanour Court of Nafplio (the seat of the Prefecture of Argolido) on 22 September 2003 and face penalties of up to three months imprisonment and/or a fine.
Background information
These charges come in the context of Prefecture of Argolida officials’ history of failure to carry out their responsibilities to provide services to the Roma community in Glykeia on an equal basis with other citizens. They also follow a pattern of segregated living conditions for the Roma in Greece.
As the Prefecture Council of Argolida settled the Roma in Glykeia, the Prefecture had a duty, under the Sanitary Provision, to provide sanitary facilities to them. However, the Prefecture has failed to perform this duty. Specifically, Article 3 paragraph 4 of the Sanitary Provision requires that “the organized encampments must have the necessary infrastructure that would allow for healthy living, such as facilities for drinking water, sanitary toilets, containers for garbage collection and disposal and, preferably, facilities for individual cleaning in commonly used baths and laundry facilities.”
However, the Roma settlement in Glykeia is one of the most destitute settlements GHM has visited. Besides being located next to the Tiryntha Prison, it lies next to a factory and fields where garbage and rubble are dumped. The site has no electricity or telephone service, and it has only three taps providing poor-quality water. It is also reported that municipal police frequently set up checkpoints on the roads, at which they verbally abuse the Roma inhabitants.
Discrimination against the Roma is apparently common in local institutions. It is also reported, for example, that the local hospital has a segregated postnatal recovery room for Romani mothers. The Greek National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) and the Chair of the Council of Europe’s Specialist Group on Roma/Gypsies have stated that a considerable number of Roma in Greece live under “apartheid” conditions, in racially segregated ghettos that stand in stark contract to other residential areas in Greece.
Human rights, international law, and treaty violations
The living conditions of the Roma community in Glykeia, as well as the criminal charges against the 27 Roma contravene, inter alia, the inhabitants’ right to water and to adequate housing; i.e., the right of all women, men and children to gain and sustain a secure place to live in peace and dignity. The Greek authorities especially violate those citizens’ entitlements to security of tenure, access to public and environmental goods and services, information, freedom from dispossession, an appropriate housing location, participation, compensation, and physical security. All are elements to the right to the human right to adequate housing are enshrined in international law. Specifically, the authorities have breached their treaty obligations under articles 1, 2, 4, 11, 12, and 15 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), which Greece acceded to on 16 August 1985. The State has been derelict in its obligations as elaborated in the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights General Comments Nos. 4 and 7 on the human right to adequate housing, and in General Comment No. 15 on the right to water. Greece has also breached articles 1, 5 and 6 of the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD), which it ratified on 18 July 1970.
Action requested
Please write to the authorities in Greece urging them to:
i. guarantee an immediate investigation into the circumstances of the duplicative criminal prosecutions, and dismiss charges that are not warranted;
ii. guarantee the right to adequate housing of the Roma community in Nea Tiryntha: namely, its following elements: security of tenure, access to public and environmental goods and services, freedom from dispossession, right to information and resettlement, as recognised in International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and elaborated in General Comments Nos. 4 and 7 by the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination, among others;
iii. immediately provide public utilities (i.e., water, sanitation, electricity, etc.) to the Roma community in Nea Tiryntha, as required under Article 3 of the Sanitary Provision, A5/696/25.4-11.5.83, and in accordance with General Comment No. 15 of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on the right to water;
iv. ensure security and police protection on a equal basis with other Greek citizens;
v. guarantee the respect of human rights and the fundamental freedoms throughout the country in accordance with international human rights standards; the country in accordance international human rights standards.
Addresses
Mr. Constantine Simitis, Prime Minister
Prime Minister’s Office at the Hellenic Parliament
Greek Parliament Bldg.
Constitution Square
Athens, GREECE
Fax: +30 2107241776
Email: Mail@primeminister.gr
Mr. George Papandreou, Foreign Minister
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Athens, GREECE
Fax: 30 2103681433
Email: gpap@mfa.gr
Mr. Filippos Petsalnikos, Minister of Justice
Ministry of Justice
Athens, GREECE
Fax: +30 210 748–9231
George Kaminis, Greek Ombudsman
Fax +30 210 728–9643
Mr. Costas Skandalidis, Minister of Interior
Public Administration and Decentralisation
Fax: +30 210 323–3218
**************
Geneva - Cairo, 14 August 2003
Kindly inform OMCT and HIC-HLRN of any action undertaken, quoting the code of this appeal in your reply to: omct@omct.org and mmignot@hic-mena.org
The joint urgent appeals of OMCT and HIC-HLRN are dedicated to the protection of the human right to adequate housing.
**************
Sample Letter
Date
Prime Minister,
We have been informed by the World Organisation against Torture (OMCT) and Habitat International Coalition-Housing and Land Rights Network (HIC-HLRN) that Greek authorities have initiated criminal charges against 27 Roma living in Glykeia, Municipality of Nea Tiryntha, Prefecture of Argolida, Southern Greece. The Roma have been accused of violating national sanitary provisions regulating living conditions in temporary settlements despite the fact that the same people were tried and acquitted on the same charges in 1999. They are scheduled to stand trial in the Misdemeanour Court of Nafplio on 22 September 2003 and face penalties of up to three months imprisonment, or a fine. We are very concerned about this situation, as well as by the living conditions and violations of rights of these people.
The Prefecture of Argolida has charged that the 27 Roma, including 5 men and 22 women, on charges that from November 1998 until 17 June 1999, intentionally violated the Minister of Internal Affairs and Minister of Health’s Decision entitled, “Sanitary Provision for the organized relocation of wandering nomads” (A5/696/25.4-11.5.83). The indictment accused them of violating Article 1, paragraphs 1 and 2 of the Sanitary Provision, which prohibit the “unchecked, without permit, encampment of wandering nomads (athinganoi, etc.)” but authorizes the temporary encampment “provided that there is a prior relevant decision of the Prefect and a permit.”
The Roma have not violated the Sanitary Provision. The Prefecture Council of Argolida actually settled the Roma in Glykeia in 1986 and they have been living there since that time. Therefore, their settlement complies with the cited sections of the Sanitary Provision that allow encampments with “a prior relevant decision of the Prefect,” thus, rendering the charges held against the Roma groundless.
The Prefecture has, in fact, failed to comply with its obligations to provide sanitary facilities for the Roma. Specifically, Article 3, paragraph 4 of the Sanitary Provision requires that “the organized encampments must have the necessary infrastructure that would allow for healthy living, such as facilities for drinking water, sanitary toilets, containers for garbage collection and disposal and, preferably, facilities for individual cleaning in commonly used baths and laundry facilities.”
The Roma in the settlement in Glykeia are living under horrendous conditions, in an area located next to a factory and fields where garbage and rubble is dumped. They have no electricity or telephone service, and they have access to only three taps, and these provide poor-quality water.
Moreover, the living conditions of the Roma community in Glykeia, contravene, inter alia, the inhabitants’ human right to water and to adequate housing; i.e., the right of all women, men and children to gain and sustain a secure place to live in peace and dignity. The Greek authorities especially violate those citizens’ entitlements to security of tenure, access to public and environmental goods and services, information, freedom from dispossession, an appropriate housing location, participation, compensation, and physical security. All are elements to the right to adequate housing as recognised in international law. Specifically, the authorities have breached their treaty obligations under Articles 1, 2, 4, 11, 12, and 15 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), which Greece acceded to on 16 August 1985. The State also has been derelict in fulfilling its obligations as elaborated in the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights General Comments Nos. 4 and 7 on the human right to adequate housing, and General Comment No. 15 on the right to water. These actions and omissions also have caused Greece also to breach Articles 1, 5 and 6 of the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD), which it ratified on 18 July 1970. We urge you to respect these minimum international legal standards, and to implement your obligations as a means toward a just and appropriate remedy.
Thanking you in advance for your attention in this matter, we look forward to hearing from you regarding your remedial actions.
JOINT URGENT ACTION APPEAL:Criminal Charges against 27 Roma and Destitute Living Conditions in the Roma Settlement of Glykeia
GREECE, Case GRE-FE 110803
The International Secretariat of the World Organisation against Torture (OMCT) and the Coordination Office of Housing and Land Rights Network of Habitat International Coalition (HIC-HLRN) request your URGENT intervention in the following situation in Greece.
The situation
The Greek Helsinki Monitor (GHM), a member of the OMCT network, has informed the International Secretariat of OMCT that Greek authorities have initiated criminal charges against 27 Roma living in Glykeia, Municipality of Nea Tiryntha, Prefecture of Argolida, Southern Greece. According to the information received, the Prefecture has accused them of violating national sanitary provisions regulating living conditions in temporary settlements. It is reported that these charges do not have adequate grounds for prosecution and have been brought even though the court acquitted the same 27 Roma of the same charges in 1999.
These new charges indict the 5 men and 22 women for having intentionally violated the Minister of Internal Affairs and Minister of Health’s Decision entitled, “Sanitary Provision for the organized relocation of wandering nomads” (A5/696/25.4-11.5.83), from November 1998 to 17 July 1999. The indictment reportedly specified violations of Article 1 paragraphs 1 and 2 of the Sanitary Provision, which prohibit the “unchecked, without permit, encampment of wandering nomads (athinganoi, etc.)” but authorizes the temporary encampment “provided that there is a prior relevant decision of the Prefect and a permit.”
According to the information received the Prefecture Council of Argolida settled the Roma in Glykeia in 1986, where they have been living since then. As it is the Prefecture that settled the Roma in Glykeia, their settlement complies with the cited sections of the Sanitary Provision that allow encampments with “a prior relevant decision of the Prefect,” rendering the present charges groundless.
It is reported that the Roma settlement in Glykeia is adjacent to the Open Air Prison Facility of Tiryntha and that it was the Chief Warden of the prison who asked for the prosecution by sending a letter (document Ref. No. 6787/27-11-1998) to the Prosecutor. The dates of November 1998 and 17 June 1999 cited in the indictment reflect the period running from the Chief Warden’s letter to Prosecutor’s office until the Police Station of Nafplio reported, without any investigation, the names of the 27 Roma to the Prosecutor’s office. The 27 Roma involved in the pending trial were reportedly tried and acquitted on the same charges on 21 June 1999, the same month the current indictment was filed.
The GHM and SOKADRE (Coordinated Organizations and Communities for Roma Human Rights in Greece) are currently supporting the Roma. However, GHM has indicated, for lack of funds, the 27 Roma currently do not have legal representation..
The Roma are scheduled for trial in the Misdemeanour Court of Nafplio (the seat of the Prefecture of Argolido) on 22 September 2003 and face penalties of up to three months imprisonment and/or a fine.
Background information
These charges come in the context of Prefecture of Argolida officials’ history of failure to carry out their responsibilities to provide services to the Roma community in Glykeia on an equal basis with other citizens. They also follow a pattern of segregated living conditions for the Roma in Greece.
As the Prefecture Council of Argolida settled the Roma in Glykeia, the Prefecture had a duty, under the Sanitary Provision, to provide sanitary facilities to them. However, the Prefecture has failed to perform this duty. Specifically, Article 3 paragraph 4 of the Sanitary Provision requires that “the organized encampments must have the necessary infrastructure that would allow for healthy living, such as facilities for drinking water, sanitary toilets, containers for garbage collection and disposal and, preferably, facilities for individual cleaning in commonly used baths and laundry facilities.”
However, the Roma settlement in Glykeia is one of the most destitute settlements GHM has visited. Besides being located next to the Tiryntha Prison, it lies next to a factory and fields where garbage and rubble are dumped. The site has no electricity or telephone service, and it has only three taps providing poor-quality water. It is also reported that municipal police frequently set up checkpoints on the roads, at which they verbally abuse the Roma inhabitants.
Discrimination against the Roma is apparently common in local institutions. It is also reported, for example, that the local hospital has a segregated postnatal recovery room for Romani mothers. The Greek National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) and the Chair of the Council of Europe’s Specialist Group on Roma/Gypsies have stated that a considerable number of Roma in Greece live under “apartheid” conditions, in racially segregated ghettos that stand in stark contract to other residential areas in Greece.
Human rights, international law, and treaty violations
The living conditions of the Roma community in Glykeia, as well as the criminal charges against the 27 Roma contravene, inter alia, the inhabitants’ right to water and to adequate housing; i.e., the right of all women, men and children to gain and sustain a secure place to live in peace and dignity. The Greek authorities especially violate those citizens’ entitlements to security of tenure, access to public and environmental goods and services, information, freedom from dispossession, an appropriate housing location, participation, compensation, and physical security. All are elements to the right to the human right to adequate housing are enshrined in international law. Specifically, the authorities have breached their treaty obligations under articles 1, 2, 4, 11, 12, and 15 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), which Greece acceded to on 16 August 1985. The State has been derelict in its obligations as elaborated in the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights General Comments Nos. 4 and 7 on the human right to adequate housing, and in General Comment No. 15 on the right to water. Greece has also breached articles 1, 5 and 6 of the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD), which it ratified on 18 July 1970.
Action requested
Please write to the authorities in Greece urging them to:
i. guarantee an immediate investigation into the circumstances of the duplicative criminal prosecutions, and dismiss charges that are not warranted;
ii. guarantee the right to adequate housing of the Roma community in Nea Tiryntha: namely, its following elements: security of tenure, access to public and environmental goods and services, freedom from dispossession, right to information and resettlement, as recognised in International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and elaborated in General Comments Nos. 4 and 7 by the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination, among others;
iii. immediately provide public utilities (i.e., water, sanitation, electricity, etc.) to the Roma community in Nea Tiryntha, as required under Article 3 of the Sanitary Provision, A5/696/25.4-11.5.83, and in accordance with General Comment No. 15 of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on the right to water;
iv. ensure security and police protection on a equal basis with other Greek citizens;
v. guarantee the respect of human rights and the fundamental freedoms throughout the country in accordance with international human rights standards; the country in accordance international human rights standards.
Addresses
Mr. Constantine Simitis, Prime Minister
Prime Minister’s Office at the Hellenic Parliament
Greek Parliament Bldg.
Constitution Square
Athens, GREECE
Fax: +30 2107241776
Email: Mail@primeminister.gr
Mr. George Papandreou, Foreign Minister
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Athens, GREECE
Fax: 30 2103681433
Email: gpap@mfa.gr
Mr. Filippos Petsalnikos, Minister of Justice
Ministry of Justice
Athens, GREECE
Fax: +30 210 748–9231
George Kaminis, Greek Ombudsman
Fax +30 210 728–9643
Mr. Costas Skandalidis, Minister of Interior
Public Administration and Decentralisation
Fax: +30 210 323–3218
**************
Geneva - Cairo, 14 August 2003
Kindly inform OMCT and HIC-HLRN of any action undertaken, quoting the code of this appeal in your reply to: omct@omct.org and mmignot@hic-mena.org
The joint urgent appeals of OMCT and HIC-HLRN are dedicated to the protection of the human right to adequate housing.
**************
Sample Letter
Date
Prime Minister,
We have been informed by the World Organisation against Torture (OMCT) and Habitat International Coalition-Housing and Land Rights Network (HIC-HLRN) that Greek authorities have initiated criminal charges against 27 Roma living in Glykeia, Municipality of Nea Tiryntha, Prefecture of Argolida, Southern Greece. The Roma have been accused of violating national sanitary provisions regulating living conditions in temporary settlements despite the fact that the same people were tried and acquitted on the same charges in 1999. They are scheduled to stand trial in the Misdemeanour Court of Nafplio on 22 September 2003 and face penalties of up to three months imprisonment, or a fine. We are very concerned about this situation, as well as by the living conditions and violations of rights of these people.
The Prefecture of Argolida has charged that the 27 Roma, including 5 men and 22 women, on charges that from November 1998 until 17 June 1999, intentionally violated the Minister of Internal Affairs and Minister of Health’s Decision entitled, “Sanitary Provision for the organized relocation of wandering nomads” (A5/696/25.4-11.5.83). The indictment accused them of violating Article 1, paragraphs 1 and 2 of the Sanitary Provision, which prohibit the “unchecked, without permit, encampment of wandering nomads (athinganoi, etc.)” but authorizes the temporary encampment “provided that there is a prior relevant decision of the Prefect and a permit.”
The Roma have not violated the Sanitary Provision. The Prefecture Council of Argolida actually settled the Roma in Glykeia in 1986 and they have been living there since that time. Therefore, their settlement complies with the cited sections of the Sanitary Provision that allow encampments with “a prior relevant decision of the Prefect,” thus, rendering the charges held against the Roma groundless.
The Prefecture has, in fact, failed to comply with its obligations to provide sanitary facilities for the Roma. Specifically, Article 3, paragraph 4 of the Sanitary Provision requires that “the organized encampments must have the necessary infrastructure that would allow for healthy living, such as facilities for drinking water, sanitary toilets, containers for garbage collection and disposal and, preferably, facilities for individual cleaning in commonly used baths and laundry facilities.”
The Roma in the settlement in Glykeia are living under horrendous conditions, in an area located next to a factory and fields where garbage and rubble is dumped. They have no electricity or telephone service, and they have access to only three taps, and these provide poor-quality water.
Moreover, the living conditions of the Roma community in Glykeia, contravene, inter alia, the inhabitants’ human right to water and to adequate housing; i.e., the right of all women, men and children to gain and sustain a secure place to live in peace and dignity. The Greek authorities especially violate those citizens’ entitlements to security of tenure, access to public and environmental goods and services, information, freedom from dispossession, an appropriate housing location, participation, compensation, and physical security. All are elements to the right to adequate housing as recognised in international law. Specifically, the authorities have breached their treaty obligations under Articles 1, 2, 4, 11, 12, and 15 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), which Greece acceded to on 16 August 1985. The State also has been derelict in fulfilling its obligations as elaborated in the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights General Comments Nos. 4 and 7 on the human right to adequate housing, and General Comment No. 15 on the right to water. These actions and omissions also have caused Greece also to breach Articles 1, 5 and 6 of the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD), which it ratified on 18 July 1970. We urge you to respect these minimum international legal standards, and to implement your obligations as a means toward a just and appropriate remedy.
Thanking you in advance for your attention in this matter, we look forward to hearing from you regarding your remedial actions.