Eviction of Romani families from Vsetín

The Defender holds the view that the export of socially excluded families or families threatened with social exclusion from municipalities and towns where they have lived for a long time cannot be accepted as a conceptual and effective solution. Co-operation between the bodies of aid in material need, the social and legal protection of children, field social workers, non-governmental organisations, Romani families and the self-governing bodies of the town is the key to dealing with social exclusion.

The Defender ascertained shortcomings in the system of paying social benefits. The body of social and legal protection of children had been entirely inactive in respect of working with the families as required by law with the aim of ensuring the rights of the children to favourable development and proper upbringing. Shortcomings were also identified in the procedure of the planning authority, which had remained inactive for a number of years in spite of the ascertained poor structural and technical condition of the house in Smetanova street.

The only authority having shown a procedure to be followed in the case, the Regional Health Authority of the Zlín Region, had exercised all its powers to ensure public health protection.

The Defender also dealt in detail with the fate of the six families (68 persons) evicted by the Vsetín council to the Olomouc and Jeseník districts. In the first place the Defender ascertained that the “media myth” of the alleged bad payers was untrue. All the families concerned had been paying for the use of the apartments in the balcony house in Smetanova street. Three families had been in debt on rent from the previous lease, but they had been repaying it. The remaining three families had been free of any debts. The families had been moved to houses in a very poor structural and technical condition, and the planning authority had to order the demolition of the building in Čechy pod Kosířem in June 2007. If the eviction of the persons from the balcony house in Smetanova street had been determined by the adverse condition of the house and concerns about the residents’ health, moving them to other inconvenient premises in the Jeseník, Prostějov and Uherské Hradiště districts had not resolved the issue.

In general, the forced eviction of the Romani families outside the territory of the Vsetín municipality is the most problematic aspect of the issue and it is reasonable to conclude that fundamental human rights and freedoms were actually violated by the aforementioned intervention (the freedom of movement and residence, the right to respect for private and family life).

The Defender has already issued his final statement in the case of the eviction of the Romani families from Vsetín and he is waiting to discover whether the Municipal Authority in Vsetín adopts the remedial measures proposed by him.

 

Eviction of Romani families from Vsetín

The inquiry in the case of the eviction of the Romani residents from the balcony house in Smetanova street in Vsetín was closed, stating maladministration by the Municipal Authority in Vsetín.

The Defender holds the view that the export of socially excluded families or families threatened with social exclusion from municipalities and towns where they have lived for a long time cannot be accepted as a conceptual and effective solution. Co-operation between the bodies of aid in material need, the social and legal protection of children, field social workers, non-governmental organisations, Romani families and the self-governing bodies of the town is the key to dealing with social exclusion.

The Defender ascertained shortcomings in the system of paying social benefits. The body of social and legal protection of children had been entirely inactive in respect of working with the families as required by law with the aim of ensuring the rights of the children to favourable development and proper upbringing. Shortcomings were also identified in the procedure of the planning authority, which had remained inactive for a number of years in spite of the ascertained poor structural and technical condition of the house in Smetanova street.

The only authority having shown a procedure to be followed in the case, the Regional Health Authority of the Zlín Region, had exercised all its powers to ensure public health protection.

The Defender also dealt in detail with the fate of the six families (68 persons) evicted by the Vsetín council to the Olomouc and Jeseník districts. In the first place the Defender ascertained that the “media myth” of the alleged bad payers was untrue. All the families concerned had been paying for the use of the apartments in the balcony house in Smetanova street. Three families had been in debt on rent from the previous lease, but they had been repaying it. The remaining three families had been free of any debts. The families had been moved to houses in a very poor structural and technical condition, and the planning authority had to order the demolition of the building in Čechy pod Kosířem in June 2007. If the eviction of the persons from the balcony house in Smetanova street had been determined by the adverse condition of the house and concerns about the residents’ health, moving them to other inconvenient premises in the Jeseník, Prostějov and Uherské Hradiště districts had not resolved the issue.

In general, the forced eviction of the Romani families outside the territory of the Vsetín municipality is the most problematic aspect of the issue and it is reasonable to conclude that fundamental human rights and freedoms were actually violated by the aforementioned intervention (the freedom of movement and residence, the right to respect for private and family life).

The Defender has already issued his final statement in the case of the eviction of the Romani families from Vsetín and he is waiting to discover whether the Municipal Authority in Vsetín adopts the remedial measures proposed by him.