Hello!
My name is Adriana Holmberg Milea and I am a member of Amnesty from Sweden, active in a group working on Roma rights.
The municipality of Malmö decided today to evict a camp where aprox. 150 people, the large majority Roma from Romania live. The decision was made by the environmental council on the basis that the camp is dangerous for people`s health. The camp is on a private land in a former industrial area. However, the municipality will not offer any alternative housing to those living there. People living on the camp will be offered only a ticket back to their home country and a maximum of 5 nights accommodation. Other municipalities in Sweden have offered land for camps to be built but there is no political will to take similar measures in Malmö.
The decision of the environmental council dictates immediate implementation, even if the decision is appealed. The deadline for people to live the camp is Sunday, November 1st at 16:00 local time. After this date the municipality will take the help of the police to clear the camp.
The municipality of Malmö has been trying to evict Roma living in this camp for a long time now and now it seems that they found the juridical grounds for doing so. Nonetheless, this eviction is violating human rights and throwing vulnerable people into an even more vulnerable situation.
Please advise on what we could do. This is a new situation for Sweden. There have been evictions recently but none of this amplitude. The camp in the largest in Sweden.
So far there has been no international attention and no international human rights organisation criticized Sweden for such actions. This is very strange especially in a context where Sweden has been very critical to evictions in other European countries in previous years (for example during the evictions in France in 2010). Could you help us getting international attention to this? There are local groups putting pressure on the local government but the mobilization is not strong enough. We need strong critical voices.
Any help and advice would be useful. This is very urgent.
Sincerely,
Adriana
PS: The coverage of the event in the local and national media, in case it helps.
http://www.skanesfria.se/artikel/119877
http://www.etc.se/…/beslut-idag-lagret-romer-ska-jamnas-med…
http://www.svt.se/…/reg…/skane/presskonferens-om-avhysningen
http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx…
http://www.expressen.se/…/v-staller-sig-emot-att-migrantla…/
http://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/article21657873.ab
http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx…
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Adriana Holmberg Milea
+46 (0) 766 50 28 53
adriana.milea@gmail.com