AI brief: Mind the legal gap. Roma and the right to housing in Romania

Alert DateJuly 23, 2011 Country: Romania General Type: Discrimination, Institutional discrimination Racism and discrimination phenomena: Anti-roma/ romaphobia
Groups affected / Interested in: Roma & Travelers Key socio-economic/institutional areas: Housing, Anti-discrimination, Anti-racism, Integration - social cohesion

Related Alerts

Victims Data
Victims Nationality/Ethnic Origin N/A
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

In 2011, Amnesty International published a document called: Mind the legal gap: Roma and the right to housing in Romania. The briefing presents a pattern of abuse against Roma communities in what regards their right to housing. It argues that the lack of an adequate legal framework (to include among others, a ban on forced evictions), combined with pervasive discrimination against the Roma, has led to widespread violations of the right to housing, including forced evictions, and resettlement of families and communities in conditions that fall far below international standards. The Roma communities visited were from the towns of Baia Mare, Cluj-Napoca, Constanta, Craiova, Mangalia, Miercurea-Ciuc, Piatra Neamţ, Podari and Tulcea which presented some of the most serious cases of abuse against the Roma, from forced evictions, without due notice, to relocation in metal containers in overcrowdedness conditions with lack of access to basic facilities such as running water or electricity, or next to environmentally hazardous areas, and/or next to waste collection sites and far away from services (such as transportation, employment options or schools). Many of the cases have been documented and some represented in court by Romani CRISS national NGO and by the European Roma Rights Centre. The briefing also speaks of the lack of security of tenure, a situation more prevalent among the Roma who have been historically excluded from land and property, and which represents another unaddressed source of vulnerability.

Source: