Out of the spotlight: The rights of foreigners and minorities are still a grey area approximately 15 Greek Romani families, permanently residing until then in Akti Dimeon, were relocated to the Makrigianni area, after an agreement with the local authorities. In its General Comment No. 30 on “Discrimination Against Non-Citizens”, the CERD has clarified that states should, “remove obstacles that prevent the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights by noncitizens, notably in the areas of education, housing, employment and health” and “guarantee the equal enjoyment of the right to adequate housing for citizens and non-citizens, especially by avoiding segregation in housing and ensuring that housing agencies refrain from engaging in discriminatory practices.” Ever since the Albanian Romani families settled in these two neighbouring settlements in Makrigianni, police officers have been reportedly pressuring them, as well as the Greek Roma residents previously settled there, to leave. On 30 October 2004, a bulldozer, rented by the municipality and escorted by the police, demolished four sheds. The bulldozing crew then forced the other Romani families to dismantle their sheds. According to a municipality of Patras press release dated 4 October 2004, the operation was not aimed against the Albanian Roma as the municipality was not officially aware of their presence there; but rather was concerned the “…removal of Greek Gypsies who are not registered in the municipal rolls of Patras”, who should return to the municipalities where they are registered in order to claim benefits. Despite the authorities’ claims that these evictions did not target Albanian Romani residents of Makrigianni, Amnesty International remains concerned about the statement made by the Patras Municipality, in particular that the operation was directly aimed at the forcible eviction of that area’s Greek Roma. This Amnesty International 5 October 2005 54 statement suggests that the authorities violated Article 11 of the ICESCR.106 In a later attempt to forcibly evict the Romani communities from the Makrigianni area on 14 January 2005 the Prefect of Achaia called upon the Appeals Prosecutor of Patras, as well as the municipality of Patras and the Western Greece Region, to facilitate the clearing of the Makrigianni area in order to address what he claimed was “uncontrolled settlement of athingani [Roma], both Greek and non-Greek”. A month later the state’s REA served eviction orders to six families of Greek Roma living there. On 2 March the Prosecutor of Patras held that the Roma should not be allowed to perform any other work (e.g. building of sheds) on the plot of land they were squatting but did not order their eviction. The Roma filed injunctions against the forced eviction and the case was to be heard in September 2005. In addition, the six Romani families were called to present themselves, on 24 May 2005, to the local magistrate in connection with a preliminary investigation allegedly concerning violation of the 1983 Sanitary Regulation. In June 2005 Amnesty International expressed its concerns after receiving information that 11 of the 20 sheds belonging to Albanian Roma had been levelled. 107 Ten of the sheds were empty at the time because their owners were temporarily employed on the island of Zakynthos, while the other one contained the family' s belongings. The local authorities claimed that they had “cleaned up” deserted sheds. However, the Roma present in the area at the time denied the authorities’ allegations that they had been consulted by the “cleaning” crew about which sheds should be torn down. The authorities have not responded to date to these concerns. 106 Following extensive media coverage of the incidents, the Albanian Roma have been allowed to resettle in the two settlements in the Makrigianni area. 107 Greece: Albanian Roma targeted for evictions and attacks (AI Index: EUR 25/011/2005). AI Index: EUR 25/016/2005