Greece: The Roma and the preparation of the 2004 Olympic Games: ongoing violations of the right to adequate housing

Click here to download the compilation of OMCT’s interventions on violations of the Roma’s right to adequate housing in Greece (2001 – 2004) To view the OMCT intervention on Greece at the 32nd Session of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, click here A pattern of forced evictions and other violations of the right to adequate housing of the Roma As part of the preparation for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, the Roma communities settled in the various areas of Athens and surroundings [area of Aspropyrgos] have been facing repeated threats of, and actual forced evictions. These evictions are taking place in blatant violation of Greek legal procedures and of international human rights covenants and conventions ratified by Greece. In recent years [since July 2000,] allegedly in connection with the development of infrastructure projects for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, Greek local authorities have been openly claiming the land on which the Roma are settled, or were meant to be settled, to build sport facilities for the Olympic Games. The first eviction took place on July 14th 2000, when the municipal authorities of Aspropyrgos, equipped with a bulldozer, entered a settlement of Romani tent-dwellers in Aspropyrgos, approximately 15 kilometres west of Athens. In the presence of the Mayor of Aspropyrgos and the police, they demolished most of the homes in the Roma camp causing the loss of all the personal effects belonging to Greek and Albanian Roma who lived in the settlement. The demolition crew then proceeded to burn the remains of the homes, presumably in order to deny the Roma the material (mostly wooden planks) necessary for rebuilding them. 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 is required under Greek law in cases of violation of privacy and homes. The action taken by the services of the Municipality of Aspropyrgos resulted in the expulsion of the Roma from their encampment and in the demolition of their homes. According to eye-witnesses, only eight homes, occupied by people with health problems or aged persons, escaped demolition temporarily, as their residents were given an ultimatum to leave the site by July 17th. Competent authorities have been reluctant to take appropriate measures with respect to this situation, notwithstanding a series of reminders coming from both governmental and non-governmental institutions. The action taken by the municipality was found to be illegal by the Greek Ombudsman who also recommended an administrative sanction by the authorities of the Mayor, George Liakos. To date, George Liakos continues to function as the Aspropyrgos Mayor. He has however been indicted for breach of duty and will stand trial before the Three Members Misdemeanours Court on May 21, 2004. Eight months after the Ombudsman’s report was released, the same municipal authorities proceeded to demolish 6 more homes, together with all their contents and damage another in a Roma settlement. These are just two out of seven documented incidents of demolitions, threats and other attempts to drive away Roma from settlements in Aspropyrgos alone from 1999 to mid 2003. It is also noteworthy that though the Olympic games were cited as an excuse for the evictions or to refuse the relocation of the Roma to certain cites, no Olympic facilities have ultimately been constructed in this area. Local authorities in Aghia Paraskevi, Ano Liosia, Halandri and Marousi have openly claimed that they want the land on which the Roma are settled or meant to be settled, to build sports facilities for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. The National Human Rights Commission recognised that evictions from many sites ahead of the Olympic Games were taking place with the, sometimes false, pretext of constructing sports facilities. The Commission particularly highlighted the fact that the Municipality of Aspropyrgos did not even bother to follow the existing legal procedures of eviction, using instead the offending argument of “cleaning the area from garbage”. Recently, the National Human Rights Commission recognised that evictions from many sites ahead of the Olympic Games were taking place with the – sometimes false – pretext of constructing sport facilities. The Commission particularly highlighted the fact that Municipality of Aspropyrgos did not even bother to follow the existing legal procedures of eviction, using instead “the offending argument of “cleaning the area from garbage”. Segregated living conditions of the Roma and a history of failed promises Roma communities often live in settlements which are segregated from other communities and in stark contrast to housing conditions generally found in Greece, in extremely poor conditions where they lack access to electricity, water, education or other basic services. Art. 3.1 of a 1983 Ministerial decision, that has now been amended, stated that “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 approved urban plan or the last consecutive houses”. It appears that in response to this decision many of the settlements are located in segregated areas far away from the rest of society and the frequent absence of public transport to these areas makes it extremely difficult for Roma children to attend school or for the community to access public facilities and services. In some instances, this failure appears to be utilised by the Municipal authorities as a tactic to drive the Roma away and in combination with a failure to register Roma as local residents in municipal roles ensures the Roma are both discriminated against and excluded from provision of essential services such as water, education and health. For instance, in the municipality of Nea Alikarnassos, the authorities refused to have the Roma children registered in the municipal list though they were born there and to allow them to attend local schools because the camp was not within the enrolment boundaries of any school. Though the Ministerial decision has now been amended, it still raises some areas of concern and the effect of this decision on communities and on administrative practices will need to be countered through concerted and sustained action. OMCT is specially concerned that though Roma communities are meant to be relocated to newer better equipped settlements, in reality they are often removed to distant and segregated areas. In this process they lose whatever access to infrastructure they previously enjoyed and become dependent on municipalities for provision of services, which despite numerous promises, often fails to materialise. 22 Roma families who were relocated to what was described as a ‘model settlement’ in Spata in October 2000 have still not been given no electricity or running water facilities and children from the community have lost 3 years of schooling because of lack of promised public transport. Another egregious example of this is the prosecution of 27 Roma in Glykeia for violating national sanitary provisions regulating living conditions in temporary settlements, despite the fact they had been placed in this dilapidated settlement by the Prefecture of Argolida, who had then failed to provide them with basic facilities or services. In this regard we are also disturbed by the number of extremely racist and offensive remarks about the Roma that by local municipal officials and Mayors, documented by the Greek Helsinki Monitor. OMCT believes that the systematic discrimination against the Roma demonstrated through institutional practices, discriminatory legislation and regulations and official attitudes severely limits the realisation of the economic, social and cultural rights of the Roma in Greece. The Roma in Greece and the preparation of the 2004 Olympic Games: ongoing violations of the right to adequate housing For additional information on the Roma in Greece: GREEK HELSINKI MONITOR on GREECE