Bulgaria: Roma residents of Sofia's Batalova Vodenitsa ghetto face forceful eviction and demolition of their houses by the Sofia Municipality

Sofia, Vienna, 27 June 2006 - On 23 June 2006, the residents of Sofia's Batalova Vodenitsa Roma ghetto received an official notice issued by the municipal authorities to vacate their homes within 7 days, failing which they would be forcibly evicted by the police. This action will affect over 100 Roma whose families have been living on this plot of land for nearly a century.

In September 2005, the Vazrazhdane municipality, on whose territory the Roma ghetto is situated, issued an order to the Roma families to vacate their houses because the ghetto was going to be demolished. The Supreme Administrative Court upheld this order on 12 June 2006.

The Roma houses in Batalova Vodenitsa were first built in the 1900s. Several generations of Roma have been raised in them. They are the only homes that the Roma from this neighbourhood have. One of the buildings to be demolished is a church house that was build 8 years ago for the religious needs of the Roma residents living in Batalova Vodenitsa. The church was officially registered with the municipal authorities in 1998 as a local chapter of the United Churches of God.

The intended action of the Sofia Municipality will not solve the housing problems of the residents of the Batalova Vodenitsa ghetto, but will aggravate them. No measures have been taken to ensure other places of residence for the evicted families. The forceful eviction would thus constitute a flagrant violation of their human rights as guaranteed by a number of international treaties ratified by Bulgaria, including the right to respect for private and family life (Article 8, European Convention on Human Rights) and the right to protection of property (Article 1, First Protocol to the Convention).

The Roma families that face eviction from their homes and the demolition of their houses have filed a request for an interim measure with the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) and the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee (BHC) urge the Sofia Municipality to reconsider the plan for the forceful eviction of the Roma families from their homes and to take measures to solve the housing problems of the residents of Roma ghettos.

For additional information, please contact:
Krassimir Kanev, Chair, Bulgarian Helsinki Committee: tel.: ++3592 944 0670, ++3592 9434876
Aaron Rhodes, IHF Executive Director: +43-1-408 8822 or +43-676-635 6612