Some of my work

Below a letter containing the latest news on a campaign I've been coordinating for a while now.
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Re: Urgent action to improve the living conditions of Romani communities in Tulcea

Dear Mayor Hogea,

The European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) and the Association for the Defence of Human Rights in Romania – the Helsinki Committee (APADOR-CH) are today requesting your urgent intervention in order to improve the housing conditions of previously forcibly evicted Romani families in Tulcea, Romania. Such action is imperative particularly in light of the judgment dated 27 November 2007 and communicated to the ERRC and APADOR-CH at the end of February 2008, in which the Tulcea Court of First Instance ordered your office to undertake all necessary and urgent repair and maintenance work required to bring the buildings situated at 8-14 Portului Street (in the area locally known as “Pichet”) to a standard fit for human habitation.

We have drawn your attention to the plight of the 23 Romani families who had been forcibly evicted from their flats at 5 Alunisului Street in letters sent to your office on 27 October 2006 and 16 February 2007. Of these 23 families 17 were relocated to Pichet, and are covered by the above-mentioned judgment. The remaining six families were allocated cabins situated on a former garbage dump on Urzicii Street after having spent two months sleeping rough on the streets subsequent to the October 2006 eviction. Despite our appeals, the living conditions of the Roma concerned have became considerably worse, as attested by the court’s judgment.

In the above mentioned judgment, based on extensive fact-finding, including an on-site investigation, the Tulcea First Instance Court concluded that “presently, [the buildings on Portului Street] are clearly inadequate for human habitation.” The only positive development of last year was when the three buildings were belatedly hooked up to the electricity grid in April 2007. This notwithstanding, the buildings started showing considerable structural deficiencies due to the lack of maintenance/refurbishment over an extended period of time. The water from the rain and snow infiltrated large portions of the walls located immediately underneath the roof causing the flats to become damp. None of the buildings have a functioning sewage system, and in one building ground floor occupants are affected by periodic spills of raw sewage from common toilets located on the upper floor. The tenants are thus prevented from using the toilets. In addition, water provision has become increasingly erratic, being interrupted for days at a stretch. The lack of functional toilets in the three buildings, the interruption of garbage collection and chaotic water works in the settlement have created a health hazard, especially for the children. Finally, public transport linking the settlement to downtown Tulcea has been stopped, forcing children in the settlement to drop out of school, amongst other consequences.

ERRC and APADOR-CH however also believe that the aforementioned judgment is of relevance to the remaining Romani families left homeless after the October 2006 eviction who indeed live under even worse conditions than the community on Portului Street. More specifically, our two organisations are extremely concerned by the living conditions of the six families living in cabins located on a former garbage dump on the Urzicii Street. Although the measure of moving the Roma in these cabins was initially supposed to be a temporary one, the Municipality shows no signs of looking for an alternative, long term solution. The cabins on the garbage dump are lacking the most elementary facilities such as heating, water, sanitation. Moreover, these cabins deteriorated markedly: the bottom part in some of them fell in and the holes were covered with planks of wood; others tipped on a side, sinking in the thin soil layer covering the garbage dump. The whole area is very harmful for the health of its inhabitants and appears to be infested with rats.

Dear Mayor Hogea, the ERRC and APADOR have repeatedly called on your office to provide an adequate housing solution for the Romani families forcibly evicted from Alunisului Street in 2006. The judgment delivered by the Tulcea First Instance Court provides legal recognition of the deplorable living conditions of the Roma families living at Portului Street and renders it imperative that your office takes all the necessary measures in order to address this situation. To this effect, the ERRC and APADOR call on your office to implement, in the shortest time possible, the Tulcea First Instance Court’s order to undertake all necessary and urgent repair and maintenance work required to bring the buildings situated at 8-14 Portului Street to an adequate standard. We further request that you seize this opportunity to provide an adequate housing solution for the Romani families living on the garbage dump situated on Urzicii Street.

We believe that the above clearly point to the measures your municipality needs to adopt in order to meet the relevant international law provisions as well as conform with the Tulcea’s First Instance Court’s judgment of 27 November 2007. To this end, we would like to affirm that we are willing to work together with you in addressing what is a deplorable situation not benefiting your municipality.

We respectfully request to be informed of any and all actions undertaken by your office in this regard, and would welcome the opportunity to contribute to the implementation of the Tulcea First Instance Court’s decision.

Sincerely,
Diana-Olivia Hatneanu
Executive Director
Romanian Helsinki Committee

Vera Egenberger
Executive Director
European Roma Rights Centre