Roma Housing Rights: Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner Viewpoint

08 September 2006

The ERRC welcomes the statement by the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Mr Thomas Hammarberg on the issue of forced evictions against Roma in Europe. ERRC's monitoring of Roma housing rights reveals that in a number of countries such as Albania, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, France, Greece, Hungary, Russia, and Turkey, forced evicitons of Roma have been dramatically escalating. The impact of these actions -- often accompanied by police violence and executed in disregard of due process -- is exposure of large numbers of Roma to extreme human rights violations. Forced evictions of Roma seriously question government commitments on integrating Roma and remedying the disastrous effects of racial discrimination. The Commissioner's viewpoint is available at: http://www.coe.int/t/commissioner/Viewpoints/Default_en.asp.