Roma families in Belgrade evicted into metal containers
This action is closed.
Thank you to the thousands of you who joined our call to ask the Serbian authorities to refrain from forcibly evicting thirty three Roma families in Belgrade - many of whom had fled the war in Kosovo - from their homes.Unfortunately the site was evicted in March 2012.
On 7 March 2012 the city authorities forcibly evicted more than 10 of the Roma families registered in Belgrade. Their houses were destroyed and the families had no choice but to accept the government's offer of being ‘rehoused’ in metal containers.
The metal containers offered to the families are dirty, cold and not connected to electricity. Our partner organisations have been to the container site and found the metal containers in completely unacceptable condition.
According to our local contacts, the authorities believe that the 20 families remaining at the informal settlement will move of their own accord.
We are very concerned about the way in which this eviction has been conducted, especially as some parties involved believe that because there was a 'consultation', the eviction was carried out according to international standards.
Amnesty will be evaluating the process of the Block 72 eviction with our partners in Serbia, and writing to the Serbian Ministry of Human Rights to outline a long list of concerns.
We will post any future actions on this topic on our information around Roma discrimination area of our website.
