Roma clients discriminated by Algarve’s tourist company

Alert DateSeptember 5, 2012 Country: Portugal Address: Algarve, Portugal General Type: Discrimination Racism and discrimination phenomena: Anti-roma/ romaphobia
Groups affected / Interested in: Roma & Travelers Key socio-economic/institutional areas: Housing
Victims Data
Victims Nationality/Ethnic Origin Portuguese
Victims Gender N/A
Victims Age N/A
Victims Number N/A
Fatalities - deaths N/A
Perpetrators Data
Perpetrators Nationality/Ethnic Origin N/A
Perpetrator Gender N/A
Perpetrator Age N/A
Perpetrators Number N/A
Extremist/Organised Group Violence No

A real estate and tourism activities company operating in Algarve, named Silmar exhibited on their webpage, under terms and conditions, a clause specifying that for Roma the rental deposits amount should never be less than 5.000€ for an apartment and 10.000€ for a villa. SOS Racismo [SOS Racism] denounced this practice with a press release dated from the 5th September 2012 and immediately afterwards that clause was removed from the webpage.

SOS Racism states that the racial discrimination in tourism and housing sectors is not a new thing, but this is one of the rare occasions when a company announces publicly and in a written document a discriminatory practice, making it part of the contract that establishes with its clients.

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