Tirana Times
TIRANA, March 14 – The local media continues to echo the strange move of a small Roma community from their shelters in Tirana suburbs. Unfortunately politics is trying to get it in its hands and that is a bad luck. If it is turned into a political tool, then it would hardly give any positive result for the Roma community, like for many other issues.
A Roma camp on the outskirts of Tirana was burned down last week by perpetrators that have not yet been found. Some dwellers in the camp with some 45 families told the local media the attackers had arrived at night and beat them with sticks while setting fire to their barracks over several days, pressuring them to relocate. They also shoot with weapons in the air.
The residents of the camps say the police failed to prevent the attacks and provide protection for the families, who now have moved to live in settlements in Tirana and other cities.
At this moment the Albanian police are being accused of racism by local media. Police denied on Friday they had disregarded the laws against discrimination of minorities and the protection of children while dealing with the case. Police also urged the Roma community members to testify saying that after being questioned they had refused to do so.
For the moment it remains unclear if the attack was the result of racism or instigated by the financial interests of real estate developers looking to build in the area.
According to the Union for Albanian Roma, a Tirana-based NGO, up to 150,000 Roma people live in Albania, part of a community that struggles with discrimination, poor literacy rates and massive unemployment.
EU, OSCE, U.S, condemn displacement of Roma
TIRANA, March 15 – The European Union Delegation, the OSCE Presence in Albania and the US Embassy in Albania have condemned the forceful removal of a group of Roma people from their settlement in Tirana. In a joint statement, the head of the OSCE Presence in Albania, Ambassador Eugen Wollfarth, the U.S. Ambassador to Albania, Alexander Arvizu, and the head of the EU Delegation to Albania, Ambassador Ettore Sequi, urge the responsible authorities to take the appropriate action by investigating the disturbing February events in order to ensure that such acts are not repeated.
During the week of February 20, 2011 dozens of Roma families were violently removed from their settlements in central Tirana by unidentified persons who set fire to their shelters and chased them from their homes.
“We note that these actions resulted in some serious injuries and the displacement of large numbers of people, including many children. Albania has committed itself to implementing the Action Plan on Improving the Situation of Roma and Sinti within the OSCE Area, as well as the 2009 Ministerial Council Decision on Enhancing OSCE Efforts to Ensure Roma and Sinti Sustainable Integration,” says the joint declaration.
The European Commission, in its Opinion on Albania’s membership application, identified the fight against discrimination and the protection of the rights of Roma as key priority areas needing particular attention from the authorities.
“We also encourage the authorities to take the appropriate action to provide necessary social assistance, including housing, to those people who have now found themselves homeless.”
