EVICTIONS CONTINUED DURING LOCKDOWN

The ERRC has been closely monitoring forced evictions of Roma in Italy for a number of years. Since April 2014 the ERRC has recorded at least 363 forced evictions; this should not be considered to be a comprehensive number of all forced evictions of Roma in Italy, but as a sample of cases about which the ERRC has received information. ERRC field research has found that families living in informal camps are persistently evicted without respect for the protections prescribed by international standards. Residents are generally not consulted prior to eviction and they do not receive formal eviction orders, making it difficult to challenge the evictions legally. The situation of schoolchildren, elderly people, pregnant women, and people with health issues is rarely, if ever, taken into consideration. Most of the time the evictees are not offered alternative accommodation, which forces them into an endless cycle of evictions from one camp to another.

Between February and June 2020, evictions of Roma from informal camps continued, as they have for the past decade, despite the extraordinary situation brought about by the pandemic. Despite the government decree issued on 19th May (no.34, law no. 77/2020) which suspended evictions throughout Italy, the ERRC has recorded at least 7 evictions of Roma between February and June 2020. Q On 6 March, Carabinieri forcefully evicted 15 Sinti who had parked their four caravans in an area in San Cesario near Modena. The eviction happened after a routine check carried out by the Carabinieri discovered that the children, despite being enrolled in a school in Syracuse, were not attending classes. The entire family group was subsequently removed from the area in question. Q On 10 March, police were called by residents in the neighbourhood of vico Gelso, in Torre Annunziata, after Roma who were not resident in the area were seen visiting the homes of friends and relatives. The residents were concerned that the Roma had come from areas where there were many cases of coronavirus, so the police took them away from the city. At this point, the ministerial decree banning travel without an urgent reason had not yet come into force, meaning the Roma were not in breach of any emergency measures. Q On 21 April, two Romani families illegally occupying empty social housing during lockdown were confronted and eventually driven out by other residents of the apartment block. The Carabinieri supervised their eviction from the building in the Quarto Oggiaro district and cleared the apartments of their belongings. Local councillor, Fabio Galesi, referred to ‘nomads’ in Milan occupying social housing without permission during lockdown as a “group of jackals around to identify vacancies to occupy.”

On 21 May, 16 people were evicted from an informal camp in Nova Milanese by the police and Carabinieri. The camp was located on via Galvani and had been previously occupied and evicted in March. The displaced Roma were made homeless once again without alternative accommodation. The eviction was attended by Red Cross volunteers. Q On 23 June, eight people were evicted from an area on Via Tor Bella Monaca in Rome and their makeshift homes were destroyed. The eviction was carried out by local police and municipality workers who arrived ready with vans, bulldozers, and equipment to dismantle the camp. Q Over the weekend of 26 -28th June, a group of Roma living in campervans were driven from a carpark on the seafront in Porto Sant’Elpidio where they were staying by firefighters. The group had been staying there for around a week before they were forced to move. The reason for their eviction was to ensure the carpark could be used for tourists visiting the town, as the season was just beginning. Q In Turin, police officers continued to demolish the homes of around 500 Roma in Germagnano informal camp, as they have done since the camp was seized by a judicial order in 2016. Since then, the empty shacks have been routinely destroyed, even if the families have moved away and then returned. Law enforcement regularly place a sign on the shack that says it is “under seizure” but the affected people do not receive any formal document informing them of the eviction. Because the families are not present, they do not receive any offers of housing alternatives from local authorities. Due to the constant evictions many Romani families have been left homeless during the lockdown, forced to live in cars or caravans on the outskirts of the city. Local activists and witnesses report police officers frequently visiting Romani families living in camps (as often as 4 or 5 times a week) to try and convince them to leave the area. It is highly probable there have been more evictions during the lockdown which went unreported while media attention was diverted by the pandemic. Furthermore, many evictions of small groups of Roma are termed ‘removals’ rather than ‘evictions’ and go underreported.

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