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A court sentence prevents the demolition of the homes of 26 Roma families in Spain [editar]

The Fundación Secretariado Gitano took part in the procedure to prevent them from being evicted without a housing alternative

23/06/2023
FSG

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A court sentence prevents the demolition of the homes of 26 Roma families in Spain
  • This Procedure could have left 96 people on the street, including 31 boys and girls, and 14 people with a disability or chronic illness. Practically all were Roma people and in a situation of vulnerability.
  • The FSG welcomes the sentence handed down on June 15 that dismissed the possibility of eviction, based mainly on the prolonged and tolerated permanence of the families in the neighbourhood, their situation of vulnerability and the need for a prior proportionality trial, taking into account the non-existence of a housing alternative to rehouse the high number of families.
  • The FSG approached this procedure as a case of strategic litigation, relying on the legal direction of Rafael Cid, representative of Gentium, an organization for the defence of human rights, who presented the opposition brief to which the 22 duty solicitors adhered representing the families.

On June 9, the Hearing was held in the Contentious Administrative Court No. 1 of Teruel for an appeal filed by the owner of some land in the Pomecia neighbourhood against the Teruel City Council, to comply with Decree 1574/2011, declared final by Decree 1025/2018, which ordered the demolition of 26 homes, some of which have been in the neighbourhood for more than 40 years.

The Fundación Secretariado Gitano (FSG) approached this procedure as one of its most important strategic cases since it affected 96 people, including 31 boys and girls, minors and 14 people with a disability or chronic illness. Practically all were Roma people and in a situation of vulnerability.

The FSG took part in the procedure as a stakeholder, based on its founding principles and its priority objectives, among which are the promotion of access to decent housing and the defence of the rights of the Roma population. Twenty-two duty solicitors participated in the procedure who adhered to the opposition brief of the FSG, which was presented by Rafael Cid, representative of Gentium, an entity that defends human rights. Rafael Cid stated that “The ruling places human rights at the centre of the legal debate that was intended to be exclusively urban in nature, despite the fact that the estimate of the appellant's appeal would have meant leaving more than 90 people on the street with different vulnerabilities. The Contentious-Administrative Court of Teruel has thus assumed the consolidated jurisprudence of the Supreme Court, the European Court of Human Rights and various United Nations Committees, which requires the performance of the so-called 'proportionality analysis', by virtue of which an urban planning decision that can have a serious impact on the most basic rights of the people affected must be preceded by a study of vulnerability and other relevant factors that should lead, in many cases, to the non-execution of the urban decision, particularly in those cases in which there is no suitable housing alternative”.

On June 15, the Contentious-Administrative Court No. 1 handed down a sentence rejecting the claim of the appellant, which would have implied leaving 26 Roma families on the street, based mainly on the prolonged and tolerated permanence of the families in the neighbourhood of Pomecia, its situation of vulnerability and the need for a prior proportionality trial, taking into account the non-existence of a housing alternative to rehouse the large number of families.

From the FSG we celebrate the sentence and in this sense, Isabel Jiménez, representative of the Fundación Secretariado Gitano, has recognized that "this sentence has great importance for the Roma community, since it guarantees the right of these families, who have lived in Pomecia for decades, to have a procedure with all the due guarantees, which guarantee their right to adequate housing for these families in vulnerable situations, who belong to a stigmatized group and with specific needs”.

The FSG recently published a study (soon available in English) indicating that 92% of the people living in slum and substandard housing settlements belong to ethnic minorities, the majority being Roma, an indicator of structural racism. For this reason, from the FSG it is hoped that the sentence will help the authorities to address this problem and guarantee the right to decent housing.

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