ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΟ ΠΑΡΑΤΗΡΗΤΗΡΙΟ ΤΩΝ ΣΥΜΦΩΝΙΩΝ ΤΟΥ ΕΛΣΙΝΚΙ
(Ελληνική Εθνική Επιτροπή της Διεθνούς Ομοσπονδίας Ελσίνκι για τα Ανθρώπινα Δικαιώματα)

& ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΗ ΟΜΑΔΑ ΓΙΑ ΤΑ ΔΙΚΑΙΩΜΑΤΑ ΤΩΝ ΜΕΙΟΝΟΤΗΤΩΝ
(Ελληνικό Τμήμα της Διεθνούς Ομάδας για τα Δικαιώματα των Μειονοτήτων)

Τ.Θ. 51393, 14510 Κηφισιά, Tηλ. 620.01.20; Fax: 807.57.67; E-mail: office@greekhelsinki.gr

ΕΠΕΙΓΟΝ

Κύριο Σεραφείμ Φυντανίδη
Διευθυντή εφημερίδας "Ελευθεροτυπία"
Fax: 9028308

27 του Ιουνίου 1997

Κύριε Διευθυντή,

Με έκπληξη διαβάσαμε στο σημερινό φύλλο, στη σχετική ανταπόκριση του Τάκη Διαμαντή για την απαγωγή του ηγετικού στελέχους της Ομόνοιας Θοδωρή Μπεζιάνη, την είδηση -που ΜΟΝΟ η “Ε” αναφέρει- ότι οι απαγωγείς-του είναι “τέσσερεις μάλλον Τσιγγάνοι”.

Ακόμα κι αν τα εγκληματικά στοιχεία που έκαναν την καταδικαστέα -[άσχετα από τα κίνητρα] απαγωγή ανήκαν στη μειονότητα των Ρομά -ΓΕΓΟΝΟΣ ΠΟΥ ΚΑΝΕΝΑ ΜΜΕ Η ΠΡΑΚΤΟΡΕΙΟ ΔΕΝ ΑΝΑΦΕΡΕΙ- δεν αντιλαμβανόμαστε γιατί ήταν αναγκαία η αναφορά αυτή. Οταν μάλιστα στην έκθεση του Ευρωπαϊκού Κέντρου για τα Δικαιώματα των Ρομά που μόλις κυκλοφόρησε και αφορά τους Ρομά της Αλβανίας αναφέρεται ρητά ότι η μειονότητα αυτή καταδιώκεται στην Αλβανία “λόγω της συμμετοχής-της στο υπό ελληνική επιροή Κόμμα της Ενωσης Ανθρώπινων Δικαιωμάτων” [βλπ. σχετικό δελτίο τύπου που ακολουθεί].

Μια εφημερίδα σαν την “Ε” που μάχεται κατά του ρατσισμού -το δείχνει άλλωστε και το σημερινό “πολιτικό παρασκήνιο” με τίτλο “Αγνωστος”- πιστεύουμε πως δεν πρέπει να παρασύρεται σε παρόμοιες αναφορές. Παρακαλούμε γι’ αυτό να κάνετε σχετική επανόρθωση σε αμέσως προσεχές φύλλο-σας.

Με τιμή,

Νάσος Θεοδωρίδης
Νομικός Σύμβουλος

Announcement of Publication:
No Record of the Case: Roma in Albania

The European Roma Rights Center (ERRC) announces publication of the report No Record of the Case: Roma in Albania. The ERRC is an international public interest law organisation which monitors the human rights situation of Roma and provides legal defence in cases of human rights abuse. Throughout 1996 and 1997, the ERRC conducted in-depth research into the situation of Roma in Albania. The report is the result of this research.

The ERRC documented numerous instances of police ill-treatment of Roma (beatings, arbitrary detention and extortion of money). The ERRC found that there are instances of hostage-taking by the police, often of family members of suspects. Finally, the ERRC documented two police killings of Roma and Jevgjit, a minority occupying a similarly marginalised position to Roma in Albanian society.

The upheavals of post-communist Albania have led to an unruly and chaotic land restitution and privatisation process. In the course of this, many Roma with whom the ERRC met have been evicted from land on which they had been living for long periods of time. Many of these evictions were carried out with violence by groups of ethnic Albanians. In the central Albanian town of Berat, all of the Roma with whom the ERRC spoke had previously lived in flats in the centre of town, but as a result of violent evictions, now reside on a mud flat on the perimeter.

Elsewhere, Roma report violent attack which bears no relation to property issues. In one such incident, a 15-year-old Romani boy named Fatmir Haxhiu was burned to death in July 1996 by armed men intent on stealing his clothes and some money. In cases of attacks such as these on Roma, the police often act passively or not at all, and legal remedy is not secured.

Roma in Albania are, additionally, exposed to discriminatory tendencies in the allocation of housing, in the school system, and in the military. The ERRC documented instances of physical violence in the military, and the failure of military tribunals to correct the violation. The ERRC also noted that, according to Roma, numerous obstacles prevent Romani children from obtaining proper schooling: Romani children are subjected to differential treatment by teachers, other children threaten, beat and taunt them, and schools are far from Roma settlements.

Roma in southern Albania also report abuses of their political rights. Some Roma have evidently been harassed and abused by the Albanian authorities for joining the Greek-dominated Unity Party for Human Rights. Other Roma report having been prevented from voting in the October 1996 municipal elections. All over Albania, Roma reported that they are not adequately represented.

On the basis of its findings, the ERRC has made a series of recommendations to the Albanian government. The ERRC urges that all of the following policies be adopted in full:

1. Investigate reported cases of corruption in the police force, particularly instances of the targeting of Roma for the extortion of money and unlawful confiscations. Bring to justice those responsible for these ongoing forms of abuse.

2. Investigate instances of police brutality, including beatings, unlawful detention and police killings reported by the ERRC. Bring those responsible to justice.

3. Take significant steps to reform the police, the investigation and the procuracy, focusing on discrepancies between international norms for law enforcement procedure and current practice in Albania.

4. Initiate programs, in co-operation with Roma leaders, which enable Roma greater access to law enforcement bodies and competent judicial authorities. Initiate affirmative action and own-policing programs within the Roma community.

5. Investigate extra-legal expulsions of Roma from housing and settlements and bring the guilty parties to justice.

6. Provide suitable compensatory housing for those Roma displaced by the process of property restitution and privatisation.

7. Investigate the violent conflict at Levan, taking into account prior harassment by the non-Roma community and bias of the local police. Bring to justice those responsible for the killings and provocation.

8. Bring to justice the killers of Fatmir Haxhiu.

9. Take significant steps to increase oversight in the distribution of social welfare, the administration of schools and among the officer corps of the Albanian military establishment. Investigate allegations of discrimination at local authorities, schools and in the military.

10. Take significant steps, in conjunction with Roma and human rights NGOs, to introduce anti-racism curricula and programs in schools and in the media.

***

Copies of No Record of the Case are available from the ERRC at a cost of 8 US dollars per copy. Payment by wire transfer to the following account is preferred:

B 110772, OTP Rt.
1085-Budapest, Jozsef krt. 33
Hungary

European Roma Rights Center
P.O.Box 10/24 - 1525 Budapest - Hungary -
Phone: + (36 1) 327-98-77 Fax: + (36-1) 138-37-27