GHM REPORT TO ERRC NO 67: 8/9/1999

AUGUST 1999 ACTIVITY REPORT
OF THE GHM ROMA OFFICE

1. Ioanina - expulsion
2. Kalamata - housing procedures
3. The Kotropoulos – Bekos Case
4a.) Ministry of the Interior: Allocations
4b.) Office for the Quality of Life of the Greek Prime Minister: government initiatives regarding the housing, education, health and the promotion of the culture of the Greek Roma.
5. Contacts with a journalist about Aspropyrgos

1. Ioanina (Paralimni)

Expulsion of Roma from the area of Paralimni in the town of Ioanina.

We were informed by Ms. Spanoulis, involved in the special program for the Roma in the University of Ioanina, on the expulsion of 35 Roma families (25 Greek and 10 Albanian) from a private land in Paralimni where they had been living for two to four years with the consent of the owner. The latter had rented out the land for 10,000 drachmas per month for each family. The Albanian Roma families had joined the camp recently after their expulsion from another part of the town (May 1999). The Greek Roma had been systematically threatened with expulsion from the area and Ms. Spanoulis’ witness reported that the police were the ones that delivered them the order to leave (relevant information also in the May 1999 GHM Activity Report to ERRC). At that time and, after the intervention of human rights activists and participants in the program of the university, the authorities backed off and promised not to proceed with the expulsion, unless there was an alternative viable proposal for transferring the Roma to another site.

Based on the same information, as given to Ms. Spanoulis by an Albanian Roma through a mobile phone, regular policemen came on the spot and, without presenting any legal document, ordered the expulsion of all Roma from the area. No alternative place was given to them as a temporary solution. Bulldozers entered the land and leveled their shucks to the ground. The Roma scattered around to various directions and the camp was dissolved.

GHM contacted the mayor of Anatoli (the municipality to which Paralimni belongs administratively) to get some background information, to have the official justification for the expulsion and to find out more about the conditions under which the operation preceding the expulsion took place. According to Mr. Emmanouilides (elected mayor in the first round of the 1998 elections, with 55.3% of the vote and common candidate of three opposition parties: New Democracy, Social Democratic Movement and Political Spring) the Roma were creating problems in the region. They were not keeping the area clean although, he claimed, there were dustbins in the camp. Moreover, he portrayed the Roma as constant troublemakers in the region and made it clear that they were not welcome in the municipality, either by the authorities or the rest of the locals. He also stated that for the operation to take place there was a petition by the owner, which had been submitted to the municipality. When GHM asked for a copy of this petition to be sent by fax, the mayor said that it was already delivered to the police and instantly got upset saying “now you seem to doubt my words. I don’t like this!” He refused to give his name when asked. He simply said “the mayor of Anatoli.” GHM found his name later on, through the web page of the Ministry of the Interior. The mayor confirmed the initial information that the Roma had made an arrangement with the owner to pay 10,000 per family every month. He also said that no water was provided to the campers, adding that it was the owner’s business and not up to the municipality’s to do so. As to the way the Roma left the area, the mayor commented that they went “willingly, without any use of force.”

We contacted the spokesperson of DROM, Mr. Thanasis Triarides and informed him about the latest developments in Paralimni. GHM and DROM agreed to issue a press release, denouncing the expulsion. This happened on August 16. The dailies Avgi (17/8/1999), Eleftherotypia (17/8/1999) and Vradini (18/8/1999) made reference to the relevant press release and brought the eviction into the limelight.

Mr. Triarides informed GHM that in the past the Greek state had used the very same Roma as a sample for research on education, trying to show them as a positive example of the recent state efforts to decrease illiteracy among the Roma. Ms. Spanoulis had also told us that an instruction program had recently started for the Roma children in the camp and that many of them were attending the classes. In connection to the expulsion and the initiation of this program, Ms. Spanoulis commented: “it is a pity, now all this work has been in vain.”

GHM was informed by the spokesperson of DROM, Mr. Triarides, that the “Doctors of the World” in Thesaloniki decided to send a member of the organization, Ms. Yanopoulos, to Ioanina in order to find out more about the eviction of the Roma in Paralimni. On August 23, 1999 GHM contacted again Ms. Spanoulis to see if there was anything new from Paralimni (Ioanina). After a visit on the spot, she told us that there was nothing left from the camp - just an empty place. She also took some pictures of the area. Some Albanian Roma (who had lived in the region for seven years) moved to a neighboring site and built two shacks for temporary accommodation fearing another eviction. The family is headed by a basket-maker who did not want to move far away and start again from zero in another region. According to Ms. Spanoulis the latter wants to be baptized as an Orthodox Christian, get Greek citizenship and stay there. The Greek Roma are nowhere to be found. They were scattered around and probably headed towards other camps in other towns. GHM also contacted Mr. Triarides to find more about the forthcoming visit of Ms. Yanopoulos of the “Doctors of the World” to Ioanina. The visit was decided to take place with the presence of Ms. Spanoulis who is the liaison between the locals, the University of Ioanina and the Roma. In the meantime, Ms. Spanoulis is trying to trace some of the Greek nomads in order to find out all possible details about the eviction and be able to organize Ms. Yanopoulos’ visit.

2. Kalamata and Mesini

GHM contacted Mr. G. Spiliotis, from the Committee of Human Rights of Kalamata and found out about the latest developments in the case of the Roma in Kalamata. Two places have been already agreed to host the new Roma settlements that are about to be created in Kalamata and Mesini. The Roma residents of Kalamata are to move and settle in the area of Makaria, while those of Mesini - in the area of Agia Triada. The Ministry of the Environment has already agreed to sponsor the program, after a petition from the Prefecture. The dossier of the case has already been delivered to the Secretary General for the region and allocation to the lowest bidder will soon be announced. Based on the outcome of this allocation, it will be decided if an auction is necessary. The construction of the houses will be taken over by the state-run Organization of Workers’ Houses. In the meantime, till the construction of the residences is over, the Roma will be transferred to the public areas of the future settlement where infrastructure for a decent living will be provided, namely water supply, electricity, telephones, toilets and sewage system. In the meantime, an instructive program is about to start, hosted in two mobile houses for the children of Kalamata, living in the industrial zone of Kalamata. The program will feature the teaching of the Greek language and of some simple health-related lessons.

 

Case of L. Bekos and E. Kotropoulos - follow up

GHM contacted E. Kotropoulos and L. Bekos to find out that the policemen involved in the case of their maltreatment in the police station of Mesologi (May 1998), had neither been transferred, nor put in suspension. GHM has repeatedly asked the Ministry of Public Order to proceed with their removal from the police station of Mesologi as the two victims systematically have stated that they were being pressed to drop the charges. In the meantime, the administrative inquiry, ordered by the Ministry of Public Order, has not come yet to any conclusion, despite the fact that it has been already one year since the incident came into the light and was denounced and despite the District Attorney’s decision to press charges for torture against the policemen involved.

On February 16, 1999 the Ministry of the Interior announced its decision to approve the allocation of extra financial aid to certain municipalities in Greece, “exclusively for the improvement of the quality of life of the Roma.” (GHM got the detailed information in August 1999, this is why data is published in the August 1999 Activity Report).

Based on this decision (5670/16/02/1999) the Ministry of the Interior allocated:

200 million drachmas to the municipality of Didimotiho (Western Thrace).

50 million drachmas to the municipality of Agia Varvara. (The settlement is in Athens and consists of a Roma population, which is relatively well integrated).

35 million drachmas to the municipality of Zefiri (The settlement is in Athens and consists of a nomadic, as well as an established Roma population).

30 million drachmas to the municipality of the Rhodos island.

30 million drachmas to the municipality of Siki (Thessaloniki).

10 million drachmas to the municipality of Aspropyrgos. (The tragic irony in the case of Aspropyrgos, which is also in Athens, was that the decision was issued the same day that the authorities attempted to evict the Roma campers in Nea Zoi, by destroying and burning down some of their shucks!)

5 million drachmas to the municipality of Karditsa.

4b). Announcements by the Prime Minister’s Office for the Quality of Life

The Office for the Quality of Life of the Greek Prime Minister announced a detailed list with programs and allocations aimed at the housing, educational and health problems of the Roma citizens in Greece as well as at the promotion of their culture was announced. Based on the information published on the web site (http://www.primeminister.gr/lq/page-10.htm) in respect to housing the following has been done and decided:

60 million drachmas were allocated by the Ministry of the Environment to municipalities for the creation of camps and the restoration of existing settlements.

Allocations of 250 million drachmas were given in the course of 1997 for measures of comfort and studies.

700 million drachmas were given in 1999 to municipalities for the improvement of the living conditions in camps and settlements. In particular, full housing programs for the Roma in Didimotiho, Agrinio, Serres and other towns were initiated.

200 acres were given to the works in the former military barracks of Gonos for the Roma of Evosmos. Moreover, a pilot program for West Athens is in progress.

In Sofades (Karditsa) 1,000 acres were included in the town plan and by June 1999 the first 84 residencies are to be auctioned by the Organization for Tenement Housing. In addition, 150 families will be given loans with favorable conditions to built 150 houses in land, which will be ceded by the municipality itself.

200 million drachmas were allocated for the transferring by May 1999 of Roma from the caves of Didima Tihi to the town of Didimotiho.

In respect to education:

For the school period 1997 - 1998 1,260 Roma students made use of the special card for nomadic populations. For the period 1998 - 1999 this number was raised. Pilot programs started in Komotini, Thesaloniki, Karditsa, Ioanina (those Roma were evicted in August 1999), Corfu, Patras, Korinthos, Agia Varvara, Ano Liosia, and Heraklio. The programs cost some 1.06 billion drachmas.

In respect to employment:

Training programs, beyond the teaching of traditional skills, of 1 billion drachmas were initiated. Programs for the integration and reintegration of Roma excluded from the labor market, of 130 million drachmas, took place.

The General Secretary for the Youth is running six centers for social support of the Roma in Agia Varvara, Ano Liosia, Kato Ahaya, Sofades, Karditsa, Examilia and three youth centers to which two more will be added by the end of 1999.

Health

5,500 Roma people were vaccinated.

Culture

The Ministry of Culture is about to initiate a program on the Roma culture and tradition.

5. Contacts with a journalist about Aspropyrgos and the member of Doctors of the World, in charge of the organization’s program in the Gallikos River.

(the first three paragraphs are parts from the GHM report on the coverage of the Roma in the Greek press/ August 1999)

A three-minute piece of the journalist F. Karidas, which included an interview with the deputy mayor of Aspropyrgos and which was shown on the evening news of Antenna on August 16, 1999 highlighted the problems of the Roma in the region. According to the deputy mayor, the February 1999 operation eventually backfired into the municipal authorities. As a result, now they have to put up with the Roma. In the wider area there are plans to start major construction due to the forthcoming Olympic Games. The Roma will have to leave the place anyway, to move to other areas -since garbage dumps are their natural habitat, he said- and face their housing and unemployment problems wherever they are eventually accommodated with the help of the Greek state. In any case it is not up to the citizens of Aspropyrgos to carry the burden of such responsibility.

The reporter ended the interview by posing the following question… Even if the Roma have chosen this way of living how can a modern state tolerate such a situation?

Since the report was presented on TV -on one of the private channels with the highest ratings- it certainly brought the issue to the wider public in a much more direct and personal way. The footage of the terrible living conditions of the Roma certainly contributed to the overall message. Moreover, the journalist had a rather critical attitude towards the authorities demonstrating indirectly the unwillingness of the local authorities to facilitate the lives of the Roma.

On August 18, 1999 GHM contacted Mr. Karidas to find out more about the backstage story of his report and investigate the possibilities for future cooperation. Mr. Karidas proved to be very cooperative. He started by saying that he dedicated two subsequent reports on Aspropyrgos shown on the Antenna evening news of August 16 and 17. The second one was very much inspired by the first and in particular by the statements made by the deputy mayor of the municipality, Mr. Tsigos. Consequently, the second report was much more focused on the role of the authorities and of the deputy mayor himself. In the course of the discussion, Mr. Karidas referred to the unbearable living conditions that exist in the camp, the poverty and the miserable presence of all Roma children. He was very much critical of the authorities who permit, if not produce such misery.

On August 26, 1999 Emi Xistros, member of the Doctors of the World in Thessaloniki - in charge of the organization’s medical program in the Gallikos River - visited GHM with the desire for closer cooperation in the future regarding the Roma of Evosmos. She was also informed about the general situation in the camps of Athens and the latest developments. The previous days, Ms. Xistros had visited, together with the member of Doctors of the World in Athens, Ms. Efthimiatos, the Roma camps in Aspropyrgos. The discussion proved that there was no progress in Aspropyrgos in respect to infrastructure.