Out of the spotlight: The rights of foreigners and minorities are still a grey area 45 3. AN OLYMPIC SHADOW: VIOLATIONS OF THE ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS OF THE ROMA “The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of living conditions.” Article 11, International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) “States Parties undertake to prohibit and to eliminate racial discrimination in all its forms and to guarantee the right of everyone, without distinction as to race, colour, or national or ethnic origin, to equality before the law, notably in the enjoyment of… the right to housing.” Article 5, International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination “The practice of forced eviction constitutes a gross violation of human rights, in particular the right to adequate housing.” Article 1, UN Commission on Human Rights resolution 1993/77 3.1 Background The previous two chapters documented a series of human rights violations perpetrated by the authorities against asylum-seekers and migrants in Greece. This chapter focuses on the authorities’ failure to respect the economic, social and cultural rights of the Roma, and most importantly the right to adequate housing. Official documents such as the government’s Integrated Action Plan for the Social Integration of the Roma People (IAP) estimated a Roma population of around 300,000 in Greece, which represented roughly 3.5 per cent of the total population in 1996. The National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) estimated, in 2001, that around 15 per cent of these (40,000) were tent-dwelling, although this estimate was limited to Greek citizens. 87 The vast majority of the Roma population is Christian (Orthodox), while a group of about 35,000 are members of the officially recognized “Muslim minority” group, protected by the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne (see next chapter). The Christian Roma were afforded Greek citizenship in the mid-1970s, having been classified as “aliens of Gypsy descent” prior to that time. 88 Currently, the IAP is the main policy reference document relating to the authorities’ treatment of the Roma. The plan includes specific guidelines for bettering the living conditions of the tent-dwelling Roma, including “that by the end of 2005 no Greek Roma will be living in tents or makeshift accommodation” (objective 3.c.a, IAP). Alongside concerns about a lack of emphasis in the IAP on creating stopping places for the Roma who choose to follow an itinerant lifestyle, reports received by Amnesty International in recent years concerning forced eviction practices raise further concerns about the impact on human rights of the 88 87 The State of Roma in Greece, 29 November 2001 (Research Rapporteur: Lena Divani) Amnesty International 5 October 2005 Cleaning Operations: Excluding Roma in Greece, Country Report Series No. 12, ERRC and GHM, April 2003 AI Index: EUR 25/016/2005