Forced eviction in Rome: 500 Roma rendered homeless
Associazione 21 luglio strongly condemns the forced eviction carried out this morning from the informal settlement of Giuseppe Mirri street in Rome. 500 Roma of Romanian origin have been affected, among which pregnant women, elderly and invalid persons, and about 250 minors, some aged just few months.
The forced eviction, realized through a consistent deployment of security force – 15 patrols of local police, 3 of Carabinieri and anti-riot police units – constitutes another blatant violation of human rights and international law standards by the Italian authorities. Once again, several families were rendered homeless without any alternative housing solution, exacerbating their living conditions and making them even more vulnerable.
The forced eviction was carried out in blatant violation of Italy’s international obligation, with a particular reference to the international standards on the right to an adequate housing, without the provision of the procedural safeguards foreseen by the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The eviction wasn’t formally notified nor an adequate advance notice was issued to the inhabitants prior to the eviction, while no genuine consultation with those affected was carried out. The only alternative housing offered was the temporary re-housing in emergency reception facilities for women with children only, resulting in the division of families as men would have had to provide for themselves. The authorities made it clear since the start of the operation that they had only 11 places available in such facilities. The families rejected the offer deeming it inadequate.
Around 100 children living in the informal settlement were attending school regularly and were involved in educational and social inclusion projects. The interruption of the pupils’ schooling paths will be one of the most dramatic onsequences of today’s forced eviction.
Even classmates and teachers of the evicted children mobilized themselves to support children and their families. They also prepared letters addressed to the Prefect of Rome.
Representatives of Associazione 21 luglio documenting today’s operation were moved away by police forces. Close to the informal settlement, members of the extremist political party Casa Pound were advocating for the eviction to be carried out. Representatives of the Romanian authorities in Italy witnessed the whole operation.
«These people are heartless. I am very worried about my 5 months-old daughter and I was unable to work since two days», said a Roma woman during the forced eviction. A child looking at the police forces said: «I am just a child». In an attempt to resisting the eviction, families tried to enter back in their houses shouting “We are citizens of Rome!”.
«The forced evictions carried out this morning demonstrates how local authorities in Rome are unwilling or unable to address the City’s social issues apart than reiterating an emergency and security approach – Associazione 21 luglio stated. Today, without any dialogue with the affected families, with the schools and the associations, a positive experience of social and scholastic inclusion has been abruptly interrupted, dooming hundreds of Roma persons to be again relegated in a vicious cycle of marginalization, vulnerability and prejudice against them. After the recent intervention of the European Court of Human Rights, who told the Italian Government to stop an eviction of more than 300 Roma from a segregated reception facility in Rome on 23 March 2016, instead of rethinking their approach the Italian authorities went further forcibly evicting 500 persons with less than 24 hours’ notice. This utterly reconfirms their systematic disregard for procedural safeguards and international standards on evictions when evicting Roma families».