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UN human rights chief urges to halt forced evictions

Xinhua, September 11, 2015 Adjust font size:

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein on Friday expressed serious concerns about ongoing forced evictions of Roma and Travellers in a number of European states, including most recently in France and Bulgaria.

According to the UN human rights agency UNHCR, in Bulgaria, following anti-Roma riots in July, the authorities announced they planned to evict Roma from the Kremikovtzi settlement in the municipality of Gurmen.

The forced eviction was postponed after a request was made to the European Court of Human Rights to impose interim measures, then on Sept. 4, the court decided not to impose the interim measures after the government informed it the eviction would be postponed until Sept. 30 so that alternative accommodation could be identified.

However, UNHCR said, the Bulgarian authorities proceeded with the eviction on Sept. 7, and according to civil society sources no alternative accommodation was offered.

A total of 41 people, including 21 children, were made homeless, UNHCR said.

"I urge Bulgaria to halt these forced evictions which are devastating to the affected communities," the High Commissioner said.

In France, the peremptory forced eviction of more than 150 inhabitants of a migrant Roma shantytown was carried out on Aug. 28.

The High Commissioner noted that the events were simply the latest in a succession of collective forced evictions of Roma migrants in France since 2012. He also expressed concern at reports that further evictions are planned.

"It is becoming increasingly apparent that there is a systematic national policy to forcibly evict the Roma," the United Nations Human Rights Chief said, adding that he calls on France to replace this punitive and destructive policy with a policy of genuine inclusion.

According to UNHCR, forced evictions of Roma and Travellers have continued in a number of European countries in recent years, including Albania, the Czech Republic, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Romania, the Russian Federation, Serbia, Turkey and the United Kingdom. Endit