Recent Roma News from BalkanInsight.com

Serbian Romas Refuse to Move in Shelters
Belgrade 07 April 2009

The Roma people from the slum in New Belgrade that have been removed on Friday, spent a fourth night in a row in the open, as most of them refused the offer of Belgrade's Government to be placed in shelters.

The local government came out yesterday with a temporary solution to put children, women and the elderly in shelters, orphanages and other institutions where they would have food, bathrooms and a warm place to sleep. But, none of the 47 families accepted this offer, because they were afraid it would separate their families, and because the city does not have any plan for their men, who are able to work.

Some residents from other Belgrade slums, accepted to try to live in shelters. So far, three mothers with five children who lived in the largest slum in Belgrade, the so-called "carton city", under the "Gazela" Bridge which crosses the Sava river, arrived to the "Drinka Pavlovic Orphange" and during the day, a single father and his four children will also join them.

Roma from the New Belgrade slum say that they will continue the protests until the local government finds a permanent solution for their housing dilemma. Since Friday, they have slept in tents supplied by humanitarian organizations and are sitting by the fire. If it starts to rain they plan to sleep in several vans that they have borrowed from friends.

The local government decided to remove their slum in order to embellish the space surrounding the Universiade Village, a luxury estate complex built for the competitors of The Universiade 2009, which will be held in Belgrade this July. Belgrade's local government had planned to move the Roma families to Boljevci, a suburb of the city, but local residents protested and set fire to housing containers where the Roma were supposed to be temporarily accommodated.

As one of the possible solutions for all Serbian Romas, the government is considering "The National Strategy for Roma People", whose draft was adopted five years a go. The assistant of Human and Minority Rights Minister, Petar Antic told B92 that the government should urgently adopt the complete Strategy. According to the information from the Ministry of Health, 75 per cents of Romas in Serbia live in inadequate and unsanitary settlements.


Temporary Housing Solution for Belgrade Roma
Belgrade 06 April 2009 Jovana Gligorijevic

Belgrade Mayor Dragan Djilas announced that he will today meet OSCE and UNHCR representatives, in order to find a solution to the problem of 47 Roma families who now find themselves homeless, after their slum near Universiade Village was demolished on Friday.

Belgrade's local government had planned to move the families to Boljevci, a suburb of the city, but local residents protested and set on fire housing containers where the Roma were supposed to be temporarily accommodated. There were no serious incidents, partly because representatives of the Ministry for Human and Minority Rights, OSCE and the World Health Organisation were present.

The Roma, who lived in an illegal settlement where 50 of 350 ramshackle homes were razed to the ground by bulldozers on Friday, were not present at the scene of the protests.
They spent the weekend in the open, waiting for the issue of their accommodation to be resolved.

Belgrade city authorities, who ordered the demolitions in order to make way for an access road to in Universiade 2009, met with international organisations and ministries, and agreed to provide temporary accommodation.

Mayor Dragan Djilas announced on Sunday that he would ask the police to launch an investigation to find those responsible for setting fire to the container houses in Boljevci.
At an emergency press conference called over the case, Djilas said that the Roma from the razed settlement would temporarily be accommodated in centres for abandoned and orphaned children in different areas of Belgrade, as well as in nursing homes. The first of those to be temporarily accommodated, as of today, are women and children.

Removal of the slum started on Friday, when its residents blocked a major road in New Belgrade before crossing the river to protest in front of the Belgrade Assembly building.
"Several dozen citizens of Belgrade cannot hold the rest of the city hostage. They were settled there illegally, and it is necessary that they move from there so that a new boulevard can be built for the development of that part of the city, and for the events that will be held there," said Djilas on Friday.

However, Citizens' Ombudsman Sasa Jankovic voiced severe criticism of the demolition of the slum dwellings, saying that bulldozers and police cannot solve the problem of Roma settlements, "nor do they implement the Roma decade in Serbia".
"It is quite clear that it was necessary to prepare such measures in advance, identify those who have a right to adequate emergency accommodation, prepare that accommodation, and avoid the use of force and a situation where citizens and children of Roma ethnicity find themselves on the street“, said Jankovic.