Amnesty condemns raid on gypsy camp

by Caroline Prosser (staff) | Saturday, November 14th, 2009

Human rights organisation Amnesty International has condemned the forced eviction of a community of some 400 Roma people from a former factory in Rome’s Tiburtina district.

The former Heineken factory on Via Gordiani was home to the community, which included 80 children who frequented local schools. According to media and local NGOs, around 150 police officers evicted the families from the camp, in the east of the city, on Wednesday morning. All the community’s shelters were destroyed and around 20 Roma men were arrested. It is not known what charges they face.

The municipality offered short-term shelter to some of the Roma women and small children, in the city’s dormitories for homeless people. According to the latest media reports, these families are face another forced eviction and if evicted, they potentially face harsh conditions at another makeshift camp.

Crucially, local NGOs say that the community was not notified or consulted about the eviction. Under domestic law, the authorities should notify each individual living in the camp or publish an order or notice. Since no order was formalised, the community could not  have challenged it through the courts, or have stopped or postponed the eviction.

The community have experience at least one previous eviction which involved the destruction of shelters, clothes, mattresses, medicines and documents. Evictions are believed to have been carried out without procedural safeguards required under regional and international human rights standards.

Rome’s authorities have been urged by Amnesty to ensure that all evicted families provided with adequate alternative accommodation and compensation for possessions they lost.The organization also reminded the authorities that forced evictions without legal protections are prohibited under international law.