Amnesty Slams Romania on Forced Evictions of Roma

Posted June 23rd, 2011 at 12:35 pm (UTC-5)
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Human rights group Amnesty International on Thursday criticized Romania for its practice of forced evictions of its minority Roma population.

In a report released Thursday Amnesty said Roma families have been evicted from where they live because the legal system works against them.

Amnesty researcher Barbora Cernusakova said the result is a de facto segregation of the Roma, also known as Gypsies, who are being relegated to sub-standard housing.

The rights group said it had documented cases where Roma communities were forcibly evicted, some from places where they had lived for years, and placed into “inhumane” housing.

Cernusakova said that widespread intolerance and prejudice against the Roma combined with a lack of adequate housing laws are allowing officials to openly discriminate against the population.