 |
|
|
|
PRESS RELEASE
2 August 2002
TOPIC: ROMA HOLOCAUST REMEMBERED. COUNCIL OF EUROPE "LIQUIDATES" SPECIALIST GROUP'S REPORT ON ROMA IN GREECE!
PRESS RELEASE
2 August 2002
TOPIC: ROMA HOLOCAUST REMEMBERED. COUNCIL OF EUROPE "LIQUIDATES" SPECIALIST GROUP'S REPORT ON ROMA IN GREECE!
Greek Helsinki Monitor (GHM) and Minority Rights Group-Greece (MRG-G), recalling the Roma Holocaust (the 2-3 August 1944 liquidation of Romani camp in Auschwitz-Birkenau), denounce the Council of Europe (CoE)'s decision to "liquidate" the report on Roma in Greece prepared after a visit of the CoE's Specialist Group in June 2001 to Athens, reportedly following pressure by the Greek government. In doing so, the CoE corrected even one of (but not all!) its own related references on its website: but those remaining unchanged testify to the CoE's lack of truthfulness. All that at a time when supposedly the CoE reviews its procedure to become more transparent!
GHM and MRG-G, two Greek NGOs working inter alia on Roma rights, had invited the Specialist Group to a related seminar for Roma community representatives held in Athens on 11 June 2001. The Specialist Group's team was made up of its Chair Josephine Verspaget, Maria Ochoa-Llido who was Head of the Migration and Roma/Gypsies Division, and Eleni Tsetsekou from the Directorate General IV on Education. Before the seminar, the delegation visited many Roma camps in or near Athens. At the end of the visit, J. Verspaget gave many interviews (for their content see a GHM/MRG-G press release below), where she strongly criticized Greece's record and announced that "a report to the Council of Europe will follow" (see for example "Agence France Presse" 13 June 2001and "Eleftherotypia", 13 June 2001, http://www.enet.gr/online/online_p1_text.jsp?dt=13/06/2001&c=112&id=72777236).
Following the visit, GHM and MRG-G provided additional material to the CoE report draftee, and, on 27 July, they were indeed informed that "The Secretariat's report is ready. We are waiting for the return of our Director General (next week) to get her approval before circulating it." On 4 September, they were again informed that: "Regarding the report, it is still pending some editing before we are able to circulate it outside the Council of Europe." However, on 13 September, the CoE changed its decision: "In a meeting with our Director General and the Private Office of the Secretary General, it was decided not to distribute a complete report with what we witnessed in Athens but just an executive summary with recommendations to the Greek Government. This abridged report will be sent to the Government officials we met in Athens." Following the expression of GHM's and MRG-G's disappointment, CoE clarified on 14 September that "The abridged report will be factual and will contain recommendations to the government. In our opinion, the purpose of the visit was two-fold: 1. to promote a change in the governmental policy (or lack of it) and it is felt in the CoE that this is better achieved if we recommend instead of condemn and 2. to raise public awareness which was already done through Josephine's declarations on the spot. The report will be seen by your government first and then approved by the MG-S-ROM. This will on the contrary enhance its importance even though the whole exercise will last longer" (e-mail messages available upon request).
In the meantime, the CoE's related newsletter and website reported about the field mission in Greece and announced a report or recommendations (see below). Even after the latest "correction" by the CoE, the reference to a field visit and to ensuing recommendations remain. GHM and MRG-G know that indeed, in mid-September 2001 this abridged report with recommendations mentioned above was sent to the Greek government. Reference to the report was made also by the CoE's Commissioner for Human Rights Alvaro Gil-Robles during his recent visit to Athens (see "Eleftherotypia" 2 June 2002 http://www.enet.gr/online/online_p1_text.jsp?dt=02/06/2002&c=110&id=15878488).
On the basis of this information on the CoE website, a member from Latvia of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) and internationally respected minority rights advocate Boris Tsilevich (or Cilevics) tabled a question to the Committee of Ministers, on 7 May 2002, asking for the report's submission to PACE. In its answer of 17 July, the Committee of Ministers claimed -untruthfully- that there was no such report (full texts of question and answer follow). GHM and MRG-G hope that PACE will ask the Committee of Ministers at least to release this document immediately and perhaps also use the opportunity to review the CoE's transparency towards all its members (rather than the apparent double standard towards heavily criticized Central and Eastern European countries on the one hand, and hardly ever criticized West European countries on the other). GHM and MRG-G call upon the NGOs with a consultative status with the CoE as well as all other concerned NGOs to protest against this "censorship" and ask for the immediate publication of the report on Roma in Greece. Letters should be sent to the current Chair, Ms. Lydie Polfer, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Luxembourg, c/o Ms. Francoise Kempf, Specialist Group on Roma/Gypsies/Travellers (Francoise.Kempf@coe.int). Please send a copy to GHM and MRG-G at office@greekhelsinki.gr
_____________________________________
TEXTS OF PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION AND ANSWER
On 17 July 2002, the Committee of Ministers' Deputies issued the following answer to a related parliamentary (PACE) question (http://cm.coe.int/stat/E/Decisions/2002/805/d03_1e.htm):
"On the occasion of a seminar on Roma issues, organised by an NGO in Athens in June 2001, the Council of Europe participants to that seminar had contacts with the authorities and other personalities on the situation of some Roma settlements in the vicinity of Athens. As this visit was not officially requested by the Specialist Group on Roma/Gypsies (MG-S-ROM), no report was drawn up on the above contacts, as inadvertently mentioned in the Council of Europe's website. This reference is being corrected accordingly. The Committee of Ministers has now approved a system of regular visits to all member states in order to monitor the implementation of its recommendations and a set of rules has been drawn up to govern these field visits."
The Written Question No. 411 to the Committee of Ministers (7 May 2002) by Mr Boriss Cilevics read (http://assembly.coe.int/Documents/WorkingDocs/doc02/EDOC9442.HTM):
"According to information provided on the official website of the Council of Europe, the Specialist Group on Roma has carried out four urgent actions, each of which led to a report, including a fact-finding mission to Greece on 10-12 June 2001. The latter urgent action, carried out by the Chair of the Specialist Group, was a field visit to Greece (10-12 June 2001) to observe the situation of Roma in settlements in Aspropyrgos, Halandri, Marousi (Olympic Stadium) and Spata which are close to Athens. In the meantime, no report on the mission to Greece is available on the Council of Europe website. Mr Cilevics ? ask[s] the Committee of Ministers, whether the report on the Specialist Group's field visit to Greece is to be made available to the members of the Parliamentary Assembly and if it will be placed in the public domain; [and] what the reason is for such a substantial delay in the preparation of this report."
_____________________________________
CONTENT OF THE PARTLY CORRECTED COE WEB PAGE
The Specialist Group on Roma/Gypsies
(http://www.coe.int/T/E/social_cohesion/Roma_Gypsies/Current_Activities/_Summary.asp#TopOfPage)
Current content:
"The Group has also carried out:
- a fact-finding mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina on the situation of the Roma/Gypsies 16 - 21 May 1996
- a study visit to Valdemingomez (Madrid) 21-23 April 1997
- a field mission on the situation of the Roma in Kosovo 27 July - 6 August 1999 jointly with OSCE/ODIHR.
Reports on these missions are available on the Web site.
The Chair of the Specialist Group visited some Roma settlements close to Athens in June 2001.
?
The activities carried out since the January 2001 are the following :
?..
Field visit to Greece, 10 - 12 June 2001"
Previous content of the same page:
"The Group has carried out four urgent actions, each of which led to a report. These urgent actions are:
Fact-finding mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina on the situation of the Roma/Gypsies
16 - 21 May 1996
Study visit to Valdemingomez (Madrid) 21-23 April 1997
Joint OSCE/ODIHR-Council of Europe field mission on the situation of the Roma in Kosovo 27 July - 6 August 1999
Fact-finding mission to Greece 10 - 12 June 2001
The last urgent action, carried out by the Chair of the Specialist Group, was a field visit to Greece (10 - 12 June 2001) to observe the situation of Roma in settlements in Aspropyrgos, Halandri, Marousi (Olympic Stadium) and Spata which are close to Athens.
?.
The activities carried out since the January 2001 are the following:
?
Field visit to Greece, 10 - 12 June 2001"
_____________________________________
EXCERPT OF CoE's NEWSLETTER NUMBER 20 SEPTEMBER 2001
Activities on Roma/Gypsies
(http://www.coe.int/T/E/social_cohesion/Roma_Gypsies/Archives/Newsletter_20010921_20_doc.asp#TopOfPage)
"FIELD VISIT TO ATHENS BY CHAIR OF SPECIALIST GROUP
10 - 12 June 2001
The field visit consisted of a visit to Roma camps in Aspropyrgos, Chalandri, Marousi and Spata. This was an opportunity to observe at first-hand the living conditions faced by Roma. The visit continued with participation at an information seminar organised by the Greek Helsinki Monitor for the Roma Community on "Housing, relations with authorities: rights and dealing with their violations". The participants were informed of the procedure for lodging a complaint before the Ombudsman's office. The deputy Ombudsman and other officials dealing with Roma complaints participated in the meeting. The visit terminated with a meeting of various governmental officials ie Vice-President of the Greek National Commission of Human Rights and current President of ECRI (European Commission against Racism and Intolerance) and the president of the network of Roma mayors. The Greek governmental advisor on Roma questions outlined a 6 year action plan initiated in February 2001 which aims to improve the living conditions of Roma in Greece and particularly addresses housing, employment, education, health, culture and sport. Following the visit, recommendations are being made to the Greek authorities.
See press releases:[http://www.greekhelsinki.gr/bhr/english/organizations/ghm/ghm_13_06_01.doc]"
_____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE
(http://www.greekhelsinki.gr/bhr/english/organizations/ghm/ghm_13_06_01.doc)
13 June 2001
TOPIC: COUNCIL OF EUROPE'S TOP ROMA SPECIALIST DENOUNCES GREECE'S INSTITUTIONALISED APARTHEID POLICY FOR ROMA
Greek Helsinki Monitor (GHM) and Minority Rights Group - Greece (MRG-G) highlight the declarations of Josephine Verspaget, Chair of the Specialist Group on Roma/Gypsies of the Council of Europe, at the end of her three-day stay in Athens, that included visits to Roma settlements in Aspropyrgos, Halandri, Marousi (Olympic Stadium), and Spata. "There are conditions of institutionalised apartheid for many Roma, when they are forcefully settled in segregated areas far away from the rest of society" stated to the Greek media Ms. Verspaget, "Even the Greek Ombudsman agreed that settling Roma in such areas, like in Spata, in application of article 3.1 of a 1983 ministerial decision, is a form of institutionalised apartheid" added Ms. Verspaget. That provision states: "The lands for the organized encampments of wandering nomads (Gypsies, etc.) which are going to be designated, in accordance with the article 2 of the present decision, must be outside the inhabited areas and in good distance from the approved urban plan or the last consecutive houses" (no A5/696/25.4-11.5.83 common ministerial decision of the Minister of Internal Affairs and the Minister of Health entitled "Sanitary Provision for the organized relocation of wandering nomads," Government Gazette B' 243).
Ms. Verspaget also stated the following: "It is also a discrimination that the Roma settled in Spata were sedentary, hence the application of that apartheid decision was in fact also turning them into 'nomads.' At the same time, they have been settled since last October without any papers of ownership or lease of the property, in a former NATO waste dump, possibly contaminated from toxic waste. There is no electricity, no playground for children, who have also been deprived of their education, as there is no public transport nor special buses for school children, while the settlement is 5 km away from the last houses of Spata, of which 1,5 km is a bumpy dirt road. The government admitted to us that this settlement was a mistake and tried to put the blame on the local authorities. But the central government contributed 84 million drs. in total for this resettlement, hence it is equally responsible. In Aspropyrgos, I saw one of the worst places I have ever visited in my life -and I have been to many refugee camps in Africa and Asia. It is a shame that Roma live in such conditions in the midst of a garbage dump: no water, no electricity, bare-foot children with skin diseases and no access to school. Again, the government put the blame on the local authorities, but I reminded them that it is the central government that is accountable for the implementation of international human rights standards. In the area around the Olympic Stadium, where the 2004 Games are to be held, there are 'Halkideoi' Roma settled there for 50 years, also in squalid conditions. They thus have a historic right to be resettled in a nearby area acceptable to them and with decent housing, rather than being sent to far away areas, like Spata. The government promised to help find such places, and make favorable loans available to them to built their houses, as part of a new ambitious program, whose efficiency will have to be tested though. We have also asked the National Commission for Human Rights to investigate these human rights violations, including the fact that some Roma are stateless -ie illegals in their own country; while others do not have poverty certificates that would give access to social funds, as the bureaucracy asks from them so many papers, and sends them from office to office that discourages them. I have to admit that I was shocked by the living conditions of the Roma I visited here."
Ms. Verspaget was accompanied in Greece, and in her visits to the Greek authorities, by Maria Ochoa-Llido, Head of the Migration and Roma/Gypsies Division, and Eleni Tsetsekou from the Directorate General IV on Education. They came in Greece at the invitation of GHM and MRG-G to take part in a workshop for Roma representatives and NGOs on Roma rights, where there was also a long exchange with experts from the Greek Ombudsman.
____________________________________________________
Internet Addresses: Balkan Human Rights Web Pages: http://www.greekhelsinki.gr
The Balkan Human Rights List: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/balkanhr
The Greek Human Rights List: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/greekhr
Center of Documentation and Information on Minorities in Europe - Southeast Europe: http://www.cedime.net
GHM Board: Panayote Dimitras, Orestis Georgiadis, Dimitrina Petrova, Alan Phillips, Gregory Vallianatos.
International Advisory Committee: Savvas Agouridis, Teuta Arifi, Ivo Banac, Vladimir Bilandzic, Marcel Courthiade, Loring Danforth, Fernand de Varennes, Victor-Yves Ghebali, Henri Giordan, Krassimir Kanev, Will Kymlicka, Magda Opalski, Theodore S. Orlin, Dimitrina Petrova, Alan Phillips, Aaron Rhodes, Vladimir Solonari, Patrick Thornberry, Stefan Troebst, Boris Tsilevich, Tibor Varady, Marc Weller.
Affiliation to International Organizations: Consortium of Minority Resources (COMIR), Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN), European Roma Rights Center (ERRC), International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX), International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF), Minority Rights Group International (MRGI), One World Net, South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), World Organization Against Torture (OMCT).
|
|
|
| |
|
